Through His Eyes
by AlwaysForeverHailey
Summary: After another failed attempt to get a date with Prince Gumball, Fionna finally gives up. Now she searches for the rumored village of lost humans to find someone to love her too and she asks her friends to tag along, including the prince. Will a trip together bring love? Is she really ready to move on? Or will Aaa and the prince lose Fionna forever?
1. A Kid Through His Eyes

"MARSHALL LEE!" Gumball yelled out as he stormed down one of the halls in his castle. He was angered and upset about the news he just heard from Peppermint Maid.

Moments later a smiling Marshall came through one of the castle doors and floated towards the candy prince. "You called your majesty?" Marshall teased.

"Is it true that you're helping Fionna get a date with me?"

The smile that once occupied Marshall's face was soon gone and a look of disappointment replaced it. "How'd you find out?"

"Peppermint Maid said you were planning on tricking me into a date with Fionna."

Marshall's face angered at the mention of Peppermint Maid. She should mind her own business Marshall had thought when he looked away from the prince.

"So it's true?" Gumball asked, staring Marshall down. He didn't want to hear any lies. "That you two were planning tricking me?"

"We weren't planning on anything. The girl just wanted a date and I told her I would help her out," he said with irritation in his voice.

"Help out how?"

Marshall looked away, not wanting to look Gumball in the eyes when he said the next words. "I was going to read your diary and find out what you like in a girl so Fionna can….um…be that girl."

"What?!" Gumball's eye widen as shock came to his face. Once the shock had passed he glared at the vampire in front of him. "That's not how you get a date with someone, Marshall. What are you teaching this girl?"

Before Marshall got a chance to answer, Gumball had already started walking at a fast pace down the hall. He was on his way outside to find Fionna and talk sense into the girl before Marshall does any more damage.

Marshall kept pace as he followed the candy prince out the castle doors and towards the candy fountain, where Fionna sat slumped over with her chin in her hands and her elbows on her knees.

"Fionna!" Gumball called out. Fionna quickly looked up and saw Gumball half running towards her direction. She blushed a bit at the sight of the adorable prince but then saw Marshall behind him and she realized that Gumball probably knew of their plan.

Fionna felt embarrassed as Gumball came to a complete stop and sat beside her on the stone sides of the fountain. "Gumball."

The prince's eye brows came together as he looked at Fionna. "Fionna, you shouldn't let this vampire talk you into doing stupid things. Stealing someone's personal journal to know what girl they're into is wrong; Invasion of personal stuff and it's the wrong way to get someone to go out with you."

Fionna just watched as Gumball gave her a speech and sat patiently, waiting for him to finish before she started talking. "So will you go out with me then?"

Gumball sighed, placing a hand on his face. Figuring she hadn't heard a word he said and it was just hopeless to keep talking, but he did. "Fionna, I told you a million times before, why do you have to make me say again? Five years is a big age difference and you're just -."

Fionna quickly stood up from the side of the fountain, stopping Gumball's words with words of her own. "I'm what? I'm just a young girl right? That's what you were going to say? FYI Gumball, if you haven't noticed, I'm not a young girl anymore. I'm 18 years old, a full grown woman. Old enough to go out with any guy older than me; 5 years older, 10 years even. Your age difference excuse won't work anymore, because it's no longer an excuse."

Before Gumball was able to say something in return and possibly make a new excuse, Fionna stormed off in the opposite direction of the candy castle.

Fionna stared at the ground as she walked through the Candy Kingdom. She pulled at the ears of her bunny hat and her golden blond hair fell down her back. She looked at the hat she held tight in her fists and tears stung her eyes. She sighed once before she threw the hat down with so much force, you could hear it hit the ground. She was done being treated like just another kid.


	2. Gumball's Plan

Prince Gumball was in his study, reading one of his many science books, when he heard a knock on the door. Seconds later Peppermint Maid poked her head inside. "Sir, King Marshall is here."

Gumball sighed as he placed the book he was reading on one of the many tables in the room. "Great, send him in." Gumball got up from his big pink chair just as Marshall came floating into the room on his back, with a sunhat still on his head.

The door closed behind Marshall and he turned over and hovered closer to the ground, so he was now eye-to-eye with Gumball. "So Gumbutt what's the big deal? You tell me to get over here right away but don't tell me why," Marshall says crossing his arms.

"I need your help. I've been thinking about Fionna and-"

"You've been thinking about Fionna?" Marshall quickly asked, giving him a smirk, at the same time cutting Gumball's words short.

"Not like that, Marshall," he said, glaring at the still grinning vampire. "What I was saying is that I've been thinking about yesterday and how Fionna stormed off. I thought the best way to help her move on is to maybe get her to meet new people."

"You mean hand her off to another, dude?" Marshall asked, sounding irritated. "Why not just go on one date with her? It's just one date."

Gumball said nothing at first, but then he asked a question. "Why don't you go out with her Marshall? You two seem pretty close."

A frown came to Marshall's face and his expression seemed to say 'I thought you were smarter than that'. "Gumball, I'm an immortal vampire demon. Getting involved with a human girl will only lead to heartbreak in the end on both sides. Plus I don't see her that way and I'm sure she doesn't see me that way either."

"Hmm…. Where is Fionna?"

"At the beach with Cake, why?"

Gumball nods his head at Marshall and says, "Okay, let's go to the beach," before he starts walking towards door that Marshall had enter in just a minute before.

"What? Are you seriously going to do that to Fionna?" Marshall seemed both irritated and surprised by Gumball.

"I don't know what else to do Marshall," Gumball said, pausing his steps for a second.

"Go. Out. With. Her!" Marshall just wanted to slap the prince in the face, but knew now's not the time for violence. He'll do that later.

Gumball didn't look at Marshall when he said those words, but instead stared at the ground for a second before walking right out the door.

"Ugh!" Marshal groaned before he too floated out of the study.

Marshall and Gumball both left the Candy Kingdom and headed over to the beach. They didn't bring any swimming trunks, since Gumball had no plans on playing in the sun. His plans were much more important than fun at the moment. With the sun still being pretty high up in the sky, Marshall had no plans on limiting his clothing down to a pair of swimwear any time soon.

Off in the distance Gumball and Marshall could hear laughter that obviously belonged to Fionna and they followed it. Soon they were stepping on sand and the ocean water came into view, but there was no sign of Fionna or Cake.

"There she is!" Marshall pointed out, pointing his well-covered hand towards some really large rocks.

Fionna stood on top of the tallest rock. The sun behind her turned her body into a silhouette that looked like one of a warrior. It was hard to make out anything from the direction of the sun, but they could see very clearly her blond hair flapping in the wind.

As the boys got closer they began to see Fionna more clearly. She wore a blue and white bikini and looked like she was about to jump. Gumball and Marshall stopped just as Fionna leaped from the rocks and did a cannon ball into the water below. She yelled out in laughter as she did so, almost seeming to have forgotten everything that had happened the day before.

The boys watched as Fionna walked out of the ocean and onto the sand, squeezing the water from her hair. She was smiling at Cake, who was keeping her distance from the wet girl, which made Fionna laugh.

"Fionna!" Marshall called out. She looked up from Cake and her laughing began died down when she saw the two guys looking at her. It made her blush, knowing that she was wearing a bikini, which showed off a lot of skin.

Grabbing her towel from the sand, Fionna threw it over her shoulders as if it were some cape before she walked up to the boys. "Hey Marshall, Hey Gumball." She said Gumball's name with a hint of sadness behind it, which she tried to cover it with a smile, but they knew her better. "W-what are you guys doing here?" She asked.

"Well," Gumball began with a blush, knowing that he practically just saw Fionna half-naked. "I wanted to know if we could hang out?"

"Hang out?" Fionna said with a hint of hope.

Gumball took noticed and quickly reworded his question. "I mean like you, Marshall, Cake and I all hang out."

Disappointed came to Fionna and her shoulders slumped down. "Um, sure. What did you have planned?" She said, not really keeping eye contact with the prince standing in front of her.

Gumball didn't want Fionna to know of his plan, so he suggested two things they all could do and hoped she picked one over the other. "Well we could all go on an adventure, or maybe bake some cookies back at the castle?"

Gumball stood and waited, hoping the word 'adventuring' passed her lips, but it never did. "Baking sounds like fun."

Everyone, including Cake who was standing nearby, was surprised by Fionna's answer. Gumball especially, since he wasn't expecting the girl who would choose adventuring over anything, would suddenly choose baking. Gumball wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing. Could she be doing this because she wanted to hang out with him? That couldn't be because she would still be hanging out with him during adventure. Maybe she wanted to do more things he likes in hopes to get him to like her? The last one made him nervous.

His whole plan just backfired right in his face. He couldn't take it back now; they were all going to go do some baking together. Though he would have rather down baking anyways, but this was not his plan.

Gumball looked up from Fionna and over to Marshall Lee who just have him a look that told him, that he was a butthead for even offering the second option. Gumball just put a fake smile on and said, "Alright. Let's all go bake."

"Sorry Gumbutt, I don't bake," Marshall said, grinning evilly. Cake too backed out of baking, leaving just Gumball and Fionna.

"I guess it's just me and you Fionna," Gumball said.

"Mathematical!" Fionna's face now had a real smile on it and it made Gumball smile. He preferred her real smile over that phony one.

After a quick change at the tree house, Fionna and Gumball headed to the Candy Kingdom alone. But during their entire walk there, Gumball couldn't help but think that Marshall and Cake backed down on this whole baking thing on purpose just to get them alone.

**To be continued...**


	3. Giving Up

When Gumball and Fionna made it to the Candy Kingdom they went straight to the royal kitchen. They hadn't said anything to each other the entire way there, so when Gumball started talking to Fionna his voice was like a siren, making Fionna jump a little. "What would you like to bake, Fionna?"

"Oh, um. I don't know. What do you like baking?" Fionna asked, unsure.

Gumball eyed Fionna for a second, wondering if she really didn't know what she wanted to bake or again just wanted to do what he wanted to do. "Okay. How about a cake?"

Fionna's face quickly lit up at the mention of her favorite dessert. "Chocolate?" She asked, with hope in her eyes. That girl sure does love her chocolate cake and Gumball knew that. He always made a chocolate cake for her on her birthdays and she would eat half of it all on her own. Gumball smiled at the adventuress before nodding. "Yes, chocolate cake."

"YAY!" Fionna threw her hands in the air before she started to get impatient and couldn't sit still.

Gumball chuckled before he grabbed a few ingredients from the cabinets, a bowl, and two wooden spoons. Fionna's looked excited when he had walked over and placed everything down on the counter in front of her. "What do we do first?" She asked, looking at everything before her.

"First, we put on aprons. No need to ruin our clothes." Fionna nodded and Gumball went and retrieved two aprons from a drawer near them. He handed Fionna a plain purple apron, before putting his on. Gumball's apron was a solid pink with a cupcake situated on the front that had a crown on its head and big happy smile. Underneath it read 'Kiss the Cook'.

Fionna read Gumball's apron out loud and blushed right after. She quickly looked back at the counter and didn't see that Gumball was blushing too. The whole thing couldn't get more awkward between the two, but after what happened yesterday he wanted to do everything there is to keep their friendship. He wouldn't let this crush she had on him make being around each other hard.

Surprisingly everything went well. Things had gotten less awkward between the two as they started mixing ingredients together. Fionna took direction well and did everything perfectly; except when she tried to open the bag of flour. It tore wide open and flour got everywhere; Fionna was covered in the white powder.

There was a small chuckle and Fionna turned her head to see that Gumball was laughing, which caused her to start laughing as well and soon they were laughing so hard their sides started hurting.

When they were able to breathe again they went right back to work in finishing the cake. After mixing, they placed it in the oven to cook, and then they frosted it after the cake had cooled. The frosting was made of chocolate too, by Fionna's request, and they decorated the cake with pink and blue frosting tubes. Fionna drew little swords and kitty cats on her side and Gumball drew some flowers and even a few bunnies for Fionna.

"There all done," Gumball said, setting his tube of frosting down on the counter. Fionna did the same and they both smiled at their finished cake.

"Our cake looks so math," Fionna smiled. Gumball looked over at Fionna, who was smiling at the beautiful cake they had just made, and he smiled too.

"Yes it is. We make a great baking team." Fionna looked up at Gumball and they both stood there starring at each other for a moment before Fionna turned her head to hide her blushing.

"Can we eat it now?" She asked, looking back the cake.

"Later, but first you need to clean up. You have flour all over you."

Fionna looked down and giggled at how messy she was. She looked like she was in a flour explosion, which she pretty much was. Gumball had been lucky enough to have been far enough away from her when it happened, so he didn't get all messy.

"I didn't bring anything to change into," Fionna said, suddenly realizing she had no spare clothes.

"It's okay. You can borrow one of my mother's old dresses."

Fionna quickly looked up at Gumball who gave her a small smile. He never talked about his parents before and this was the first she ever heard him mention either of them.

Gumball ordered Peppermint Maid to help Fionna to a shower and clean clothes, while he started cleaning up the kitchen. Afterwards he decided to hang out in his lab until Fionna came back.

Gumball was rearranging some of his test tubes when he heard a knock on the door. He turned around to see who it was and saw it was Fionna. She wore a pretty white strapless dress that fell just below her knees, with a pink ribbon tied around the waste. Fionna had her hair down and it looked like it had been dried.

Fionna smiled at Gumball as she walked in and started spinning in circles. "Gumball your mom had such pretty dresses." Gumball blushed but turned his head quickly so she wouldn't see. He had never seen Fionna in a dress before, and he had to admit she did look beautiful in one.

Fionna noticed Gumball's silence and she stopped spinning. She looked at Gumball's back and saw him messing around with some test tubes. Some were filled with different colored liquids, others were empty.

Fionna walked over to Gumball and picked up one of the tubes and examined it for a second. "I went back to the kitchen and noticed you weren't there and figured you would be here."

Gumball looked over at Fionna and she looked up from the tube and smiled at the prince. "I figured I could do some organizing before you got back. I must have lost track of time, I was going to head back to the kitchen to meet you. I apologize for not being there."

"It's okay. We don't have leave yet. I'd love to know what some of these potions do," Fionna smiled and looked at the tube that she still held in her hands. It was red and it seemed to sparkle as if glitter was inside.

Gumball looked at the tube in Fionna's hand and laughed in his mind. The irony, he thought. "Well the one you hold is an anti-love potion. Makes people in love, fall out of love." Gumball stared at the potion when he said this and could feel Fionna's eyes look at him, but he never looked up from the potion.

"Anti-love potion, huh? Did you make a love potion too?"

Gumball averted his eye to Fionna and she just stared at him, waiting for his answer. "No. No one should fall in love with someone they're not meant to be with."

Fionna frowned at this and then looked at the potion in her hands. She wondered if Gumball ever thought about using the anti-love potion on her. This angered her a bit but the emotion disappeared immediately. "No one deserves to fall out of love either." Gumball looked confused and then looked at the potion she still held. "Anti-love potions can be just as bad. No one deserves to have the emotions they feel when they're in love taken away. Even though it can lead to heartbreak sometimes, the feeling itself is still beautiful."

Fionna looked upset and Gumball can tell. He knew what she was saying even if she didn't say it in the exact words. She was telling Gumball she loved him and even though he may never feel the same way towards her, she wouldn't give up the feeling of love for anything.

"Fionna," Gumball began to say.

"Gumball," Fionna said, cutting him off. "I know we'll never be together and I see that now. And I'll expect that and try to move on."

Gumball sighed; feeling bad, but also relieved.

"But."

His eyes darted to hers at the word 'but'. Gumball feared that word, it could mean anything. He held his breath as he waited.

"Can I get one kiss before I put this all behind me- on the cheek?"

Gumball's face went from surprise to understanding. He nodded yes and turned his head to expose his cheek.

Fionna smiled and leaned in to kiss it but then stopped. "Wait, can you close your eyes first?"

Gumball nodded again and did as she said, but what came next was something he should have expected but it never crossed his mind.

Within seconds of closing his eyes Gumball felt a pair of lips touch his own. It only lasted a quick second before she pulled away. Gumball's eyes shot open in surprise and looked at Fionna. She was blushing a bright red, she quickly apologize and ran out the door.

Gumball was left standing there, looking at the door, and his fingers touching his lips where Fionna had just kissed him. Astonished, he could feel his heart beating at a fast rate. Though it was just a peck, barely a brush on the lips, he swore he left a spark at that moment.

**To be continued...**


	4. Sweet Gifts

Gumball was hanging outside his castle directing a few lost candy folk, while Marshall hung back in the shadows that was cast by a nearby building, holding his umbrella.

As the two candy people thanked Gumball and turned to leave, Gumball turned back towards Marshall and walked over to him. Marshall continued to stare at him until Gumball couldn't take it. "WHAT?! I told you nothing happened. We baked a cake and that's it."

Marshall raised an eyebrow at Gumball, and then gave him a smirk before he turned to float on his back and started humming a few tunes. "You know Gumball if nothing did happen you wouldn't be so defensive aboutthe whole thing. The way you're acting just makes me believe something _did_ happen and you just don't want to admit it."

Gumball frowned at Marshall before turning his head to keep the vampire from reading his facial expression. Vampires tend to be more absorbent than others and he was sure that Marshall could tell when he was lying, even if he was really good at it. "You don't know anything Marshall, now just drop it okay?"

Marshall smirked then floated circles around the prince. "I know everything Gumbutt. I know that something did happen and you're not telling me because whatever happened wasn't supposed to happen and deep inside you sort of want it to happen again." Marshall noticed a Gumball's face turn a darker shade of pink and grinned. He then stopped and landed on the ground it front of Gumball with his arms crossed. "And you're not telling me because you don't want to admit that you like Fionna. Admit Gumball. ADMIT. IT. I know what happened Gumball and you can't hide it. I know."

Gumball face turned pale and looked wide-eyed at Marshall. "What?! Fionna told you?"

Marshall smiled as he started to unfold his arms and chuckled. "Oh my glob! I was just bluffing. I knew something happened! Come on Bubba, tell me." Marshall floated back in the air and closer to Gumball.

Gumball tried to avoid eye contact with Marshall, but he just kept getting into his face, trying to make him talk. When he didn't say anything, Marshall sighed.

"Fine I'll just take…. This." Marshall grabbed Gumball's crown and started to float higher in the sky and away from the prince's reach.

"MARSHALL! Give that back," Gumball yelled, trying to jump up and get a hold of Marshall. But he couldn't reach and just gave up.

Gumball just crossed his arms and sat at a nearby bench. Marshall stopped laughing and floated over the candy prince. "Come on Gumball. I was just playing," Marshall said, placing the crown back on his pink hair. "Why are you fighting so hard to keep Fionna away?"

Gumball looked up at the vampire and frowned. "I, um, I-."

"Fionna!" Marshall yelled, looking at the blond adventuress walking towards him and Gumball.

Gumball quickly got up from the bench and stood next to Marshall. Fionna held a basket in her hands and her hair hung loosely around her waist. Her eyes were staring at the ground a head of her, but she knew where she was going. She stopped in front of Marshall and Gumball and looked up. Her face looked sadden and this made both Marshall and Gumball frown.

"Hey Marshall, hey Gumball," she said with a small smile.

"Hey Fionna," both guys said together.

Fionna smiled again and looked to Gumball. "Gumball, I came to bring you back the dress I borrowed the other day." Fionna reached into her basket and pulled out a cleaned and neatly folded white dress. She handed it to Gumball and he took it with a smile and a nod.

"Oh, ah, thank you."

"No, thank you for letting me borrow it." Fionna looked away and blushed.

Marshall looked at Gumball and frowned. Gumball looked away and back at Fionna, "You're welcome."

"Oh!" Fionna said, a bit loud, causing both boys to look at her. "I also brought these." Fionna reached back into her basket and pulled out a plastic container with fresh-baked sugar cookies inside. "For you," Fionnasaid, looking away as she handed them over to Gumball.

Gumball took the container from her and looked at it. "Oh, thank you."

"They're apology cookies," she said, looking back at him. "You know for kissing you without permission the other day." Fionna blushed and hide her face again by looking down at her basket. She used her left hand and held her right forearm, while her right hand-held the basket.

Gumball blushed and could see the shocked look on Marshall's face at the mention of the kiss. Gumball didn't have to look at him to know that Marshall was giving him the 'I knew something happened' look.

"Its okay and thank you for cookies," Gumball smiled, looking back at the container he held. He pealed the lid off and the smell of fresh-baked cookies over whelmed the prince's nostrils. Gumball looked up at Fionnaand asked, "Did Cake make these?"

"No, I made them."

Gumball's eyebrows raised in surprise. "You can bake?"

Fionna frown and her arms fell to her sides. "Yes, Gumball. I'm not a complete tomboy you know? I may act and do things guys do but I'm still a girl, a girl with feelings. I can do more than just fight monsters. I know girl things too."

Gumball frowned. "I didn't mean- I'm sorry."

Fionna's head fell and she sighed. "No, I'm sorry. It's just I'm tired of being treated like I'm just some tomboy kid that doesn't know how to do anything. I wish people could see I could be more than just some hero."

This made both Marshall and Gumball frown. "Hey," Marshall said, placing a hand Fionna's shoulder. "I think you would make a great singer one day, and you're the best friend I ever had."

Fionna smiled up at Marshall and gave him a big hug; Gumball just stood there feeling like an idiot. He just seems to be treating Fionna as nothing more than a little girl who fights monsters and has a crush on him. For now on he's going to be Fionna's friend and be there for her.

Fionna broke her hug with Marshall and looked over at Gumball. "I got to go but I have one more thing for you." Fionna pulled the last item she had in her basket and handed it over to Gumball. It was wrapped up nice and neat in brown packaging paper. "Remember a couple years ago when you were trying to teach me how to knit, well I WAS paying attention and this is what I made. I just never got the guts to actually give it to you in case you didn't like it."

Fionna hugged both guys before she walked back to her tree house. Marshall and Gumball both stayed where they were and Gumball looked down at the package Fionna just gave him. He placed the cookies and dress on the bench and opened up Fionna's gift.

He pulled the paper off and placed it on the bench too and unfolded the material that was inside. After all the unfolding was done Gumball held a sweater. It was pink and had two smiling faces on it; they were both white and one had bunny ears and the other had a crown. Gumball knew right away it was supposed to behim and Fionna on the sweater.

Gumball couldn't hold back a smile as he held the sweater up to his chest. It was just his size and the knitting work was amazing. Fionna had listened when he taught her to knit. He was almost upset that she hadn't given him this sweater sooner.

Gumball folded the sweater back up and looked up to see Marshall in front of him, with his arms crossed and smiling. "So something did happen. I was so right, but a kiss? I never expected that from Fionna. The girl got guts."

"Well it was supposed to be a kiss on the cheek but-."

"Wait! You let her kiss you?

"Well yeah but it was just supposed to be one kiss on the cheek before she gave up pursuing me."

"Then why hide what happened from me?"

Gumball turned around and looked back the bench. Marshall floated back in front of Gumball and landed on the ground. "What happened, Gumball? Come on, tell me. You can't turn back now. I practically know now, if not, then I'm going to keep bugging you until you do."

Gumball sighed and looked at the vampire in front of him. "Well when she kissed me, I um, felt sparks." He said the last word in a whisper, but Marshall heard it and was grinning at the prince.

"I knew it. Sparks say all. You two were meant to be together."

Gumball looked away, "Why now?"

Irritation overcame Marshall and he gave the prince an angered glare. "You've known her since she was little, so you only ever seen her as a young girl. She's 18 now, a grown woman. Your age difference is nothing now: you might as well be the same age. And it's not like you have many options on girls, Gumball. You don't want to end up marrying a piece of candy or a goblin. You either have her while you still have a chance or end up losing her and growing old and ruling the kingdom alone."

Marshall said nothing more after and left. Gumball was left on the streets of his kingdom alone, thinking about what Marshall had just told him.Was Marshall right? Gumball thought. Was Fionna and him meantto be together and could he end up losing her if didn't do anything while he still had a chance?

Gumball was all too confused and just grabbed his things from the bench and headed back to the castle to get some well needed rest. He can think about what Marshall said tomorrow.

**To be continued...**


	5. Fionna's Plan

Back at the tree house…

Fionna took her time getting home after returning that dress to Gumball and giving him those cookies and the sweater. She just wanted to be alone for a while; no distractions or a curious cat asking questions about how it went.

Fionna did walk back to the tree house, but she didn't go inside. She dropped the basket off beside the door and headed out to the woods. She walked around for hours and when the sun started the set she decided to go home.

Fionna walked inside and went straight to the sofa. She plotted down on the well warn cushions and laid back. Her legs ache from all the walking she did but the pain was bearable, unlike the pain in her heart.

She has given up all hope that Gumball would ever feel the same for her as she does for him. She just wished there was a way to get rid of the ache she feels in her heart. It hurt knowing that one day Gumballwill fall in love with someone other than her and marry, while she would be forever alone in the world.

"Fionna, is that you?" Fionna heard Cake's voice call out from upstairs. Soon a white and beige head appeared at the top of the ladder.

Fionna gave her kitty sister a glance before placing her arm back over her eyes. "Hey, Cake. Yeah it's me."

The cat stretched her legs down until they touched the first floor of the tree house and soon the rest of her body followed; returning back to her normal figure. "How was the trip to the Candy kingdom? Did you seeGumball? Did he say anything about.." Cake quickly looked both ways before whispering, "You know what?"

Fionna groaned and sat herself up and stared at the floor in front of her. Cake joined her on the sofa and patted her paw on her back. "Tell your sister, Cake, what happened?"

Without looking away from the ground, Fionna said, "He said nothing, nothing at all. He just seemed surprised about the fact I baked those cookies. He didn't even mention the kiss, though Marshall Lee seemed surprised when I mentioned it. I don't think Gumball even told him. I think he hates me. Ugh! Why did I have to kiss him?" Fionna placed her hands over her face to hide her sadden expression, but Cake seemed to have noticed and stretched her arms out to hug her sister.

"You did because you love him Fionna. You just wanted your first kiss to be with Gumball, remember, you told me that."

"Yeah," Fionna looked up at her sister and smiled. "Do you think it was his first kiss too?"

Cake scratched her chin and thought for a second for answering, "Well Prince Gumball is the proper prince charming, he wouldn't go around kissing girls on the lips, so maybe."

"What about guys?" Fionna asked curiously.

Cake went wide-eyed and then laughed, "I'm pretty sure he hasn't done that either."

Fionna turned her head and looked out the window. It was a full moon and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The stars shined so bright and they looked so beautiful. Fionna smiled, thinking about the first time Fionnalearned of her feelings for Gumball.

It was a year ago; they were watching the stars with Cake, Lord and Marshall. Marshall said something and Cake made a joke, causing everyone to laugh. Fionna was sitting next to Gumball and he had placed his hand on the ground, not knowing Fionna's hand was already there. Gumball had apologized, but Fionna was blushing.

Fionna had always loved Gumball, ever since they first met. She just never knew she was in love with him until that night, when they first touched hands and she felt something.

Cake noticed Fionna's sad face, lost in thought. Touching her shoulder, Cake looked at Fionna. "What's wrong, huh?"

Fionna looked at Cake and gave her a small smile. "Gumball, its Gumball. I love him Cake. I had hoped that kiss would have changed his mind about me but I guess not. Now I'm probably just the girl who stole his first kiss." Fionna's face fell and she looked about ready to cry. "I don't want to be alone anymore Cake. Is there anyone out there for me?"

Cake thought for a moment before suggesting one guy. "Marshall Lee? There's Marshall Lee. What about him?"

Fionna thought about it for a second. "No, he's immortal, and can't go out in the sun. A relationship like that wouldn't work and in the end it'll lead to someone with a broken heart, plus I don't want to lose Marshall Lee as a friend. I need a normal mortal guy, like Gumball." A tear fell from the adventuress's face when she mentions the prince's name.

"Baby, don't cry." Cake whipped the tear from Fionna's cheek and pulled her into a sisterly hug, letting Fionna cry until there was no more tears.

After a while Fionna finally pulled herself away from her sister to get a tissue from the bathroom. She came back to see Cake and Beemo talking quietly, but stopped when they spotted her entering the room.

"What were you guys just talking about?" Fionna asked, raising a brow up at the two.

"Nothing," Beemo and Cake said in unison.

Fionna placed a hand on her hip and looked at the two with a death glare. "You guys….. What were you just discussing?"

Fionna continued to eyeball them until Beemo finally broke, "Okay, Cake wants to go find you a boyfriend."

"BEEMO!" Cake yelled. Beemo jumped off the sofa, apologizing while running into another room, leaving an angered cat and a shocked Fionna.

"Cake!" Fionna yelled, eyeing her like she just gave away her biggest secret.

"I'm sorry, Fionna. I just want you to be happy again," Cake frowned.

Fionna sighed and sat back on the sofa next to Cake. "It's okay. Thanks for trying though. What was your plan anyways?"

"Well I was going to go to Marshall and-."

"Cake," Fionna cut in, "I told you why I can't be with Marshall," Fionna frowned.

"What about me?"

Fionna and Cake both jumped at the sound of another voice in the tree house. Cake's tail was frizzed out and Fionna was in attack position, ready to fight whoever trespassed into their home.

They both relaxed when they saw Marshall floating in through window. "Oh, hey Marshall," Fionna said.

"What are you doing here?" Cake added.

"I was just on my way home when I heard my name," Marshall smiled at the two. "So, what were you talking about?"

"We're trying to find a boyfriend for Fi," Cake added.

"Boyfriend? You're not going to win Bubba over anymore?" Marshall asked, raising an eye brow at Fionna.

Fionna's shoulders slumped and she sighed. "No. Why bother? I already given up any hope that's he's going to change his mind about me."

"So where are going to get this boyfriend then?"

"I don't know! There are no normal guys out there for me. I guess I'm never find someone," Fionna frowned again, causing Marshall to frown too.

"What about the lost village of Humans?" Cake suggested. Both Marshall and Fionna looked to Cake, who just shrugged her shoulders. "Remember the stories we used hear about the village, maybe you can find a new man there?"

"Cake," Fionna said, "Those were just stories, myths. I'm the last human, remember?"

"Well actually I've heard rumors from the Night-O-Sphere that there's still living humans, south of Aaa," Marshall added, causing Cake to smile at Fionna.

"See Fi, we can find the lost village and you can meet you a nice human boy."

Fionna thought about it for a moment before looking to Cake and Marshall, "But what if we can't find it? What if it's not even real? Then what?"

"Then we'll get one heck of an adventure out of it," Cake smiled, giving Fionna her big kitten eyes. She knew all too well that Fionna can never say no to Cake when she gave her those eyes.

"Fine," Fionna groaned.

"Yay!" Cake yelled, hugging her sister tightly.

"Only.." Fionna added, making Cake loosen her grip on her sister and listen for her conditions. "…Only if Marshall comes with us."

Cake and Fionna looked to the vampire, who just shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Sure."

Fionna smiled and took a deep breath before adding, "And I want Gumball to come too."

"What?!" Cake and Marshall both said in unison.

Fionna looked down at her feet real quick before looking back her friends in front of her. "If I'm going to find someone then I want Gumball to find someone too."

When Cake was just about to question her, Fionna stopped her by holding up her hand. "It's what I want. If I find someone new to love then I want Gumball to find love too. If he gets a girl then it'll help me move on and know it's over, or I'll just keep putting off moving on knowing he's still single."

Marshall and Cake said nothing more; they just nodded their heads in understanding and started right away making plans for their trip south.

**To be continued...**


	6. Inviting Gumball

Fionna, Cake and Marshall were walking to the candy kingdom early the next morning. The three had made their plans for their trip south and had their belongings packed and ready to go; the only thing left was to get Gumball to come along with them.

"Remember you guys, Gumball can't know the real reason for this trip; he won't come," Fionna said, staring at the ground in front of her.

"Then what will we tell him?" Cake asked, looking up at her sister.

Fionna was silent for a moment, unsure what they should tell Gumball. After 10 seconds went by Marshall suggested something. "We'll tell him the truth, but change the reason why we want him to come. Fionnawants to find the village of lost humans so she isn't alone anymore and she wants her friends to come for support."

Fionna looked up at Marshall, who was slowing his pace to match hers. "Yeah, we'll go with that," Fionnahalf smiled and they continued their walk to the candy kingdom.

As the three entered the kingdom and walked towards the castle, Fionna began to get nervous; nervous that Gumball might not come and nervous about seeing him again.

They reached the castle and Fionna stopped a few yards short of the double candy doors. "Fionna wants wrong?" Cake asked, seeing Fionna's hesitation.

"It's okay Fionna," Marshall said, resting his right hand on her left shoulder. "He'll say yes. Look if you get stuck on what to say I'll take over."

Fionna nodded her head once and smiled at her vampire friend before she took a deep breath and opened one of the large doors. It was a heavy door and needed a bit of strength to get it open, but for Fionna it was no problem.

All three of them stepped inside; surprisingly it was empty besides a few candy workers cleaning some picture frames hanging on the walls. Fionna looked around and approached on of the candy workers.

"Excuse me; do you know if Prince Gumball is around?" Fionna asked the candy man, but didn't get a response back. She asked again, but he hadn't turned his attention away from his work and Fionna was beginning to get annoyed. Fionna wanted to yell at him for not answering her but she fought against it and just walked back to her friends. "Well he doesn't seem to know where Gumball is."

"Prince Gumball? You were looking for Prince Gumball?" Someone asked from behind them. They all turned around to see Peppermint Maid walking towards them from one of the many doors in the room. "Oh Fionnait's you, hello. Are you looking for Prince Gumball?"

Fionna nodded her head, "Yes, do you know where he is?"

"Yes, he's in his lab working on an experiment. I can take you to him."

"Yes that would be nice," Fionna smiled.

Peppermint Maid led them to a staircase down a long hallway; they climbed the stairs and PM knocked on the first door to the left. Her head peered inside the room and she told Gumball of their visit. Seconds later she opened the door the rest of the way and all three of them entered the room. Gumball saw the three enter and he removed his goggles before welcoming them.

"Hello, you guys," Gumball said in a cheerful tone.

"You seem to be in a good mood today," Cake said, smiling at the candy prince as she jumped up onto a stool next to the counter.

"I am. I just finished my newest potion."

"What does it do," Fionna smiled. No matter how sad or nervous she was at that moment, she always loved to see how happy Gumball gets when he finished one of his experiments or inventions.

"It's a healing potion."

"Bubba, there's already a bunch of different healing potions out there," Marshall said, annoyance on his face.

"Ah, but this one not only heals physically but emotionally as well."

"You mean like a broken heart?" Cake asked, shooting a quick glance at Fionna.

"Yes," Gumball said, not as excited this time.

"How'd you come up with this idea?" Marshall asked, floating over to the counter to take a closer look at his potion.

Gumball looked over at Fionna, who just stared at the ground in front of her. "It just came to me."

Marshall and Cake didn't notice who or what Gumball was staring at as he said this; they were all too occupied looking at Gumball's potions. Then when everyone was just noticing the silence in the room, Gumball started talking again.

"So, why did you guys stop by? Anything interesting you wanted to tell or just to see what I was up to?"Gumball smiled. Cake and Marshall looked up at Gumball, and Marshall glanced over at Fionna.

"Well," Fionna said, walking over to the counter next to Marshall. "We came to tell you that the three of us will be going on a long trip south, we could be gone for a few days or maybe weeks."

Gumball's eyes brows raised, "What kind of trip?"

Fionna looked to Cake and Marshall and then back at Gumball. She sighed once before continuing. "We're going to see if we can find the village of lost humans."

"Humans?" Gumball asked, confused.

"Yeah. Fionna wants to find more humans so she's not alone anymore," Marshall added.

Gumball looked from Marshall to Fionna. "I just want to see if I'm really the only human left," Fionna said.

"So you guys came here to tell me that you'll be leaving Aaa for a few weeks?" Gumball said, making sure he heard them right.

"That and we wanted to know if you'll come a long too?" Marshall said, resting his arm on Fionna's shoulder.

"Me?" Gumball said, raising his brows. "Why do you want me to come along?"

"Well Fionna wanted his friends to come with for support," Cake said, causing everyone to look at her.

Marshall looked to Gumball again and said, "So will you? For Fionna?"

Gumball thought about it for a bit, looking at each of his friends for a few seconds, taking a longer look atFionna. He looked at her big blue eyes that seemed to be pleading for him to say yes.

Gumball sighed and looked down for a second before looking back at his friends. "I will have to talk to Peppermint Maid about who will watch over the kingdom while I'm absent, but in all I'll come."

Fionna squealed and ran around the counter to give Gumball a big hug. Gumball blushed at the gesture but hugged her back. He looked up and saw the _look_ on Marshall and Cake's faces, which just make him blush more.

When Fionna let go Gumball saw the blush on her face as well, but underneath that blush there was a smile. He loved seeing her smile, it always made him smile too.

"Thank you," Fionna said with happiness all over her face.

"You're welcome," Gumball responded, smiling down at the adventuress.

After a few seconds of smiling, they heard of cough and their attention snapped back to their friends, who, for a second, they completely forgot was in the room. Marshall at grinning at the two and Cake just sat back on the stool, giggling.

They both started to blush; Gumball knew that Marshall is never going to let them forget this, and Cake will probably be giving him looks for the next week.

**To be continued...**


	7. The Journey Begins

"Fionna are you ready yet?" Cake yelled from downstairs. Fionna was digging in her closet looking for something to hold her hair back: a hat, a rubber band, anything. Ever since she had thrown her hat on the ground that day last week she had to deal with her hair constantly getting in the way. She couldn't take it anymore and needed something to control her locks. She did go back to the kingdom and searched for her hat but it was long gone, so she had to settle with finding something else.

Fionna groaned as she looked at her now empty closet; there was nothing she could use. She stood up and kicked her clothes off to the side, making a path back to the door. She exited her room just as Cake stretched her way up the ladder from downstairs. "Fionna what is taking so long?"

"I was looking for hat."

"A hat; what do you need a hat for?" Cake walked over and looked inside Fionna's bedroom door. Her eyes grew in size as she saw the mess of clothes that was scatter all over the hard wooden floor. "Fionna, what happened to your room? Looks like a tornado went through it."

"I told you I was looking for a hat. My hair keeps getting in the way."

Cake sighed and grabbed Fionna's hand, leading her back inside the room. Cake sat Fionna on her bed and she began picking up clothes and putting them back in the closet. "Fionna, it's your fault you threw your hat out."

Fionna was silent.

Cake looked her once over and picked a few more clothes off the ground. "Well you could've just asked me, I would have helped you out with your hair problem."

Fionna looked up to see Cake putting the remaining clothes back in the closet and closing the door. "It was hopeless anyways; I couldn't find anything."

"Well," Cake said as she walked over to Fionna's side. "We could cut your hat to make it more manageable and maybe use one of my bows as a way of holding it up?"

Fionna just looked at her sister for a moment, considering her suggestion of cutting her hair. She never did like having her hair constantly in the way; would cutting it be a better choice? "Do you really think I should cut my hair?"

"Yeah, but…" Cake placed a hand on Fionna's shoulder and looked her sister in the eyes "…that's up to you."

She sighed and her head dropped as she thought about it. "Where are the guys?"

"Oh they're downstairs waiting for you, but they can wait a little longer."

"Will cutting it take long?"

"Not long at all, I'm a professional," Cake said with her hands on her hips and her chest stuck out with pride.

Fionna giggled at her sister and nodded her yes. "Alright; let's cut it."

Meanwhile downstairs...

"Ugh! What's taking so long?" Marshall complained as he floated around the living room. "They been up there forever."

"Well maybe they're still packing?" Gumball said, unsure of what they were really doing. He was pretty much clueless of what could be happening up stairs. Gumball looked up at Marshall Lee as he floated over by his side and sat on the couch with him.

"Maybe Fionna is just making herself pretty for the trip. You know how girls are?" Marshall said, nudging Gumball's shoulder and raising his eyebrows up and down.

Gumball said nothing and looked away; his hand holding his head, Gumball looked out the window. "Why does she need to make herself look pretty? I mean this is just a trip, not a ball, and it's not like she needs to do much because-" Gumball stopped himself before saying any more and he just turned a deep shade of red. Marshall realized what Gumball was going to say at the same time Gumball did and he did a teasing chuckle.

"Well, well, well." Is all what Marshall was able to say before they both heard some footsteps coming from the ladder leading to the second floor. Marshall gave Gumball a _we'll talk later about this_ smile before floating over to meet the girls.

Gumball got up from the couch and followed behind him. Cake was the first to walk down the ladder, well-stretched really. She turned around and smiled at both boys. "Okay we're ready."

"Thank glob," Marshall groaned.

Both Cake and Gumball shook their heads and Cake even rolled her eyes and smiled. "Marshall, girls take a little longer to get ready and well Fionna needed my help with something."

"Help with what?" Gumball and Marshall both asked.

Cake smiled and turned around and yelled up the ladder. "Fionna come down, show the guys your new look."

Gumball and Marshall looked towards the ladder, curious to see this new look that Fionna had. There was a loud thud as Fionna jumped down from the second floor; not even using the ladder. She landed on both her feet and stood straight up and smiled.

Instantly the boys noticed that Fionna's hair was shorter. Her hair was pulled back into ponytail and tied there with a white bow; in the ponytail her hair hung at shoulder's length. She also sported some dark blue shorts and a blue tank up instead of a long sleeve shirt and skirt like she normally wore. She also ditched her stocking and black shoes and now wore sneakers with regular socks. She looked and dress comfortably for their long journey south.

Meanwhile Marshall wore his same old clothes since he pretty much floats and doesn't need to dress for things like long walks or hiking, he could just float over those things. Gumball wore casual clothes too; he wore a plain white t-shirt and dark purple shorts and hiking boots. He almost looked unrecognizable.

"Uh, you guys ready to go?" Fionna asked, snapping Gumball back to reality. He hadn't noticed that he had been staring at Fionna for almost a half a minute and thank goodness no one else noticed either, or at least he hoped.

Gumball just nodded his head and stepped out of the way to let Fionna walk past. She went into the living room and grabbed her traveling bag; it looked like the ones campers or hikers use, but much smaller. She also grabbed her sword and slid it through her belt, for when the trip involved some monsters wanting to kill them all.

Once everyone was ready and Cake put on her own hiking boots, they all walked out the tree house. Fionnaand Cake took the lead; Fionna held the map and they both looked at it. Marshall and Gumball followed about two meters behind them. The sun was high in the sky so Marshall held his umbrella close.

As the girls discuss what direction they should head, Marshall slowed his pace, forcing Gumball slow his pace as well. Once they were far enough away to safely whisper to each other without the girls hearing, Marshall continued his teasing that was interrupted minutes ago. "Soooooo….." Marshall said in a low tone while giving the candy prince a toothy grin. "You think Fionna is pretty?"

Gumball quickly looked away to hide a blush, but Marshall caught it anyways and chuckled. Gumball looked back at the vampire and glared. "Why are you trying so hard to make me admit things?"

"So you do think she's pretty?" Marshall flashed a wide grin that showed all his teeth.

"I'm sure every guy in Aaa thinks she's pretty, even you."

"Well yeah, but you didn't answer my question. Do _you_ think she's pretty?" Marshall kept eye contact with the prince, staring him down until he finally cracked.

"Fine, fine, fine, you win. Yes, I think she's pretty okay, but so do you," Gumball said with a hint of irritation in his voice.

"Yeah, everyone does; you have to be blind not to think she's pretty, but you, you are attracted to her."

Gumball's face turned dark pink again and he quickly defended himself. "I never said that. I said pretty not attractive."

"You didn't have to say a word Gumball; By the way you turned red right now is enough of an answer. You might as well of just screamed at the top of your lungs that you're attracted to the girl."

"Marshall Lee, stop!" Gumball said a little too loud, causing the girls to stop and turn around to see what's going on.

"What's going on back there?" Cake asked with her hands on her hips and one brow raised; Fionna still held the map but was looking at both of them suspiciously.

Gumball preyed to glob that Fionna and Cake couldn't see the blush that was all over his face and question it. Gumball couldn't lie to them, they would see right through his lies. Thank goodness Marshall was the one that said something.

"I was just teasing Gumwad over here about all the pink he's wearing," Marshall smiled. If you didn't know any better you would have sworn he was telling the truth, but that's vampires for you, professional liars.

Cake shrugged her shoulders and started walking again, while Fionna just shook her head and smiled. "Marshall, can you go at least a day without teasing Gumball. He was nice enough to come along, let's not make him change his mind."

"Okay, it won't happen again Fionna," Marshall smiled. Fionna turned back around and caught up with Cake. Marshall looked back at Gumball with the smile still on his face.

Gumball just groaned and continued walking. This was going to be a long trip Gumball thought as he followed behind the girls silently.

**To be continued...**


	8. Flame King

"We're lost!" Cake said to Fionna. She walked a long side her sister as she continued to look at the map.

Fionna held the map closer to her face to get a better look. "No we're not. We're right here because we just passed the goblin kingdom." Fionna pointed a finger on the portion of the map that held the goblin kingdom and then slide her finger upwards to the spot she knew they must be at now.

"But we're not supposed to even pass the goblin kingdom. We have to go this way to the mountains, because that's south," Cake pointed out as she pointed towards the mountains on the map.

Fionna looked at the map groaned in frustration. "This is hopeless. I don't even know which way is south or north or anyway is. We should stop for directions."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what?! Did I just hear that we're stopping for directions?" Marshall sped up his pace until he floated right in front of the girls. "We don't need to stop for any directions because you have me; the map reading master," Marshall said, pointing his thumb towards himself.

Fionna and Cake just rolled their eyes and giggled. Fionna handed the map over to Marshall and he took it and began looking it over.

"Ha. See look here," Marshall finally said after only a half a minute of looking at the big piece of paper. "We just need to pass this giant rock and then go pass the goblin kingdom and-"

Fionna took the map from Marshall looked at it again. "Marshall that's not a giant rock, it's a lake, and we already passed the goblin kingdom."

"We did?" Marshall asked, confused. "When?"

"Remember Marshall? You were trying to trip me and sneak a peek in my traveling bag when we passed it,"Gumball said, crossing his arms.

The memory coming back showed on Marshall's face and he chuckled, giving an amused stare at Gumball. "Oh, yeah. I remember."

"But we weren't supposed to pass the goblin kingdom. We have to go south towards the mountains," Cake complained. She was trying to get the others to understand that they needed to turn around.

"Look we'll just ask for directions from the next person we see. They might know which way is south,"Fionna assured Cake. "That way we know that the mountains are the right direction."

Cake nodded and they continued to walk. It wasn't until a few minutes later that they caught the sight of an orange glow coming from the forest.

"Fire in the forest!" Fionna became wide-eyed and bolted towards the trees, pulling out her sword as she ran. The sword would be useless against a forest fire but it always made Fionna feel brave and ready for anything.

As Fionna ran, the others soon followed. They make it to the forest were the orange glow came from but it was further into the forest, it was as if it was moving. Fionna didn't hesitate and went after the orange glow until she was right behind the creature causing it.

"Freeze, don't move and you won't get hurt." Fionna didn't want this fire creating creature to burn the forest and do harm, so she planned on getting it to leave at all costs.

She just stood there waiting for it to turn around. The others finally caught up to the adventuress and stood a few feet back, but ready to back her up when she needed it.

The flame coming from the thing receded and it began to look like a normal person. Fionna lowered her sword as it turned around to face her. Her jaw dropped and she released a loud laugh. Dropping her sword on the ground Fionna ran over to give her friend a hug.

"Flame Prince!" Fionna yelled, throwing herself into his arms and giving him the biggest hug ever. Thankfully she remembered to bring her flame shield crystal she kept in her pocket.

Flame Prince looked at the blond girl with surprised eyes; unsure of whom it was until she looked at him with her big blue eyes. He smiled when he recognize the girl and hugged her back tighter.

"Fionna!" He said, lifting her off the ground and spinning in circles. He finally put her down but looked at her again and went for another hug, his face buried in her neck. "It's so great to see you."

"It's great to see you too FP, how's it been?"

"It's Flame King now. I took over my father's place as king of the fire kingdom."

"That's great. I'm so happy for you," Fionna giggled. Still holding the FK's side with her arm and him doing the same to her waist, she turned to face her friends. "Hey guys, come over here, it's Flame Prince. Well Flame King now."

Cake grinned and picked up Fionna's sword before running over to her sister and the fire elemental. Marshall just smiled and followed Cake over. However Gumball seemed a little annoyed at the fire elemental, he didn't like the way he held onto Fionna, like she was his girl. He never trusted that guy.

No one noticed the look of annoyance on Gumball's face as he too walked over to greet the flame king, former flame prince. Fionna was the only one that had a flame shield crystal so no one really could shake the guy's hand, so the guys just gave him nods, while Fionna and Cake caught up.

Flame Prince and Fionna used to date a few years back but broke it off when he had to leave to help his father run the fire kingdom. The break up wasn't from a fight, but more of they had to, so it was possible he still liked her and she liked him.

Gumball didn't want to waste time with the fire king and interrupted their conversation. "Um, sorry to interrupt but shouldn't we get going?"

Fionna frowned and looked to FK, "He's right, we must get going but it was so good to see you again FK."

"I can say the same to you Fionna," FK smiled.

"Oh! FK, can you tell us which way is south?" Cake said loudly, pointing to the map in her hand. "We need to go south but none of know which way it is."

Flame King walked over to Cake and looked at the map Cake held up. He didn't want to touch it and burn it so he just looked. "Oh, south is that way," he said, pointing a finger towards the mountains.

"Ha! I knew I was right!" Cake teased.

Fionna giggled and said, "Okay, Cake, you were right and I was wrong."

"You know it," she responded proudly.

"Come on guys let's get going," Fionna said, walking towards Gumball and Marshall. She stopped once to look back at FK. "I hope we can see you again soon, FK. I missed you," Fionna smiled.

FK walked up to Fionna and placed a peck on her cheek, causing her to blush. "I missed you too, Fionna." He turned away and ran further into the forest.

Fionna turned back around to see shocked faces from her friends, but Gumball's looked a little more angered than shock. Fionna half smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "What?"

"What do you mean what? He kissed you," Cake responded, handing Fionna back her sword when she finally walked back over to them.

She took her sword and placed it back on her belt and looked at Cake again. "It was just on the cheek, nothing more. There's nothing wrong with it."

"It is when you blush like that Fionna," Cake added.

Fionna said nothing.

"Do you still like Flame Prince, Fionna?" Cake asked.

Fionna was getting annoyed with Cake's questions and didn't want to answer. "It's Flame King," she said to Cake. Turning her head to look at the guys, she added. "And it's no one's business."

Fionna walked away from them and headed south. Cake and the guys looked at each other and said nothing. They began following Fionna; Cake took the lead, followed by Marshall, and then Gumball. Gumball chose to be last; he didn't want any of them to see the look of sadness on his face. His didn't know why he was feeling a bit sad and a little angry. He didn't want them to question him about it, because he didn't know how to answer.

Fionna didn't look back at her friends; she kept her face hidden from them. She was upset and angry. She was angry at FK for kissing her on the cheek in front of Gumball. She blushed from the gesture because shewas embarrassed. She didn't want Gumball to see that and think she liked FK. She didn't like him like that, she loved Gumball. There was also Cake; Fionna wanted the kiss subject dropped and forgotten but then Cake _had_ to ask if she still liked FK. She saw the questioning look on Gumball's face when Cake asked, but instead of answering she just ignored the question. She didn't want to talk about liking guys in front of the love of her life, she refuses.

**To be continued...**


	9. End of Day One

The four friends set out towards the mountains, silence was the only thing that was heard between them for nearly an hour. Fionna kept silent, still feeling embarrassed about the whole Flame Prince thing and didn't dare to speak in case the subject came up again.

Cake didn't talk mostly because her sister wasn't talking and she sort of felt bad for even mentioning Fionnaliking FP. She knew she had upset Fionna by asking because she hadn't said a word to her. Cake didn't need anyone to tell her that Fionna was angry with her.

Gumball and Marshall Lee never talk when Fionna is either mad or lost in thought. They learned to stay silent until she spoke first.

A few more hours past and they were still pretty far from the mountains. Fionna looked up at the sky and saw the sun was beginning to set and released a long sigh. "We're not going to make to the mountains before sundown." She stopped and turned around to face her still silent friends. "We'll set up camp here for tonight."

Cake, frowning, slowly came up to Fionna. "Look Fionna, I should've mentioned the mountains earlier, I'm sorry. It's my fault we're behind and haven't made it to them before nightfall."

Fionna sighed again, feeling bad for making her sister feel like it's all her fault. "No, Cake. It's not your fault. Look by tomorrow we'll make it past the mountains and won't have to sleep on any cold rocks," She said, smiling at Cake.

Cake exhaled and smiled back at her sister. The boys didn't have to question why they're saying sorry for direction problems when the real problem was what happened earlier in the forest, because secretly those apologies were exactly for that.

"Okay, we can set up camp next to those apple trees over there." Cake and Fionna happily ran towards the trees, leaving the boys behind to catch up later.

Marshall slightly tilted his umbrella to get a shaded view of the sky. The sky was covered up with clouds and the sun was far enough gone that the blue sky now had hints of pink and orange in it, also a sign that Marshall no longer needed to be protected from the sun. Closing up his umbrella and stuffing it in his bag, Marshall then turned and looked over at Gumball. "Ready for your first night out of the castle your highness? Let me warn you about the bugs and the bears. I hope you brought a sleeping bag," Marshall teased.

Gumball just smirked at the vampire and walked past him and towards the camp the girls were already setting up. He dropped his bag to the ground and start digging inside of it. Seconds later he pulled out a small little cube that fit perfectly in the palm of his hand.

"What's that?" Fionna asked, stopping what she was doing to look at what Gumball had in his hand.

"It's my tent," He smiled. Gumball placed the cube in the grass as Marshall floated past him and hovered next to the girls to watch. The prince then took a few steps back and pulled a remote out of his pocket and pressed a big red button in the center. The cube began to shake, causing everything but Gumball to step backwards a few more feet. Then right before their eyes the cube start to unfold and get bigger until it was a fully built tent with the candy kingdom's flag at the top.

"I'm surprised. I figured you'd bring your own mini castle, not an actual tent," Marshall chuckled.

"Well it's pink," Cake pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess it is." Marshall and Cake began to laugh. Gumball just frowned and walked into his tent to prepare his sleeping bag.

Fionna didn't laugh but she felt bad that she didn't say anything. It was a little too late to say anything now since Marshall and Cake stopped their giggles and Gumball was already in his tent, so Fionna just went back to pinning up her own tent.

Time passed and the sun had completely set and everyone was gathered around the campfire that Marshall had set. Fionna and Cake were laughing about some joke that Marshall just told, while Marshall sucked thered from a few apples. Gumball however ignored what was going on between them and just sat, looking at the map, trying to think where this tribe of humans would be located and why haven't he known about it before.

Gumball was so caught up in his own thoughts about this human population and why Fionna suddenly now decided to look for them that he hadn't heard Fionna talking to him. "Huh? What?" He said, looking up confused.

"I said what are you thinking about Gumball? I mean you've haven't said a word for a while," Fionna said, concerned.

"Oh well," Gumball scratched the back of his head and looked off to the side. He wasn't sure about what to say, and fortunately something else had taken Fionna's attention away from him.

"Do you smell that?" She said, taking a big inhale of the air.

Cake grew in size and sucked in a ton of air into her nostrils before becoming wide-eyed, "Smells like PIE!" Drool dribbled from Cake's mouth as she shrank back in size and ran over to Fionna. She shook her sister's shoulders to get her to listen, knowing she already was. "It's apple pie, Tree Trunks must be making some."

Fionna playfully shoved her sister and said, "Let's go, TT's home is not far from here."

"Yeah," Caked agreed and the two started to bolt out of their camp.

"HAULT," Gumball shouted, causing both girls to freeze and look at him. "You're just going to ditch us like that for pie? What about this trip YOU wanted?"

Gumball crossed his arm and stared at the girls until Fionna sighed. "We weren't abandoning the trip. We wanted some pie."

"Yeah. And we WERE going to bring back some for you guys too," Cake added.

Gumball's arms just fell to his side and he waved them goodbye, "Fine, but don't forget to come back."

"Thanks Gumball," both girls said before running off again.

Tree trunk's house wasn't that far from their camp and as they drew closer the smell became stronger. When TT's house came into view Cake's tail frizzed up, and she started to run towards it but stopped when she found that her sister wasn't by her side.

Cake stopped halfway and turned around to see Fionna still standing where she left her. Running back to her side, Cake looked at Fionna with a hint of worry. "What's wrong Fionna?"

"Did you see the way Gumball spoke to us; like we were just kids?" Cake didn't say anything and Fionnabecame upset. She quickly whipped away a tear that accidentally escaped her eyes and took a deep inhale. "He's never going to think of me as an adult, is he?"

"I don't know baby, but maybe one day he wil-."

"Doesn't matter," Fionna interrupted, "This is why we took this trip right?" Cake lifted up her paw to say something but Fionna kept talking. "Right! I'm an adult, rather Gumball thinks so or not. I'm taking this trip for myself and I will find someone who will love me, regardless of my age."

"Fionna."

"Let's go Cake," Fionna said, storming off towards the little house that smelled like apple pie. Cake stayed back for a second before finally sighing and following her sister.

_Oh Fionna. I wish it didn't have to be like this. I want you to be happy._ Cake thought to herself, feeling bad for Fionna and wanting to give that Gumball slap in the face.

The girls walked up to TT's house and started to knock on his door. "Hey, Tree Trunks! You home?" Cake yelled first after pounding on the door.

"Yeah, we smelled pie and wanted some," Fionna added in.

The door suddenly swung open and a happy Tree Trunks answered. "Fionna. Cake. What are you doing out here this time of night?"

"Well we're going on a trip Tree Trunks and we smelled pie at our camp," Fionna said, while Cake sniffed the apple pie filled air.

"Oh, a trip? What kind of trip?"

"We're going to find the tribe of lost humans for Fionna," Cake said.

Fionna smiled and nodded her head and TT smiled. "Oh then you must take some pies with you for your trip. You're going to get mighty hungry if you're traveling that far."

TT walked into his little kitchen and grabbed a couple of pies from the counter and carried them back to the two girls at his door. "Thanks, Tree Trunks," Fionna said, grabbing the pies.

"Yeah, TT, thanks a ton," Cake added.

Tree Trunks smiled and said, "No problem girls. Have a great night and a great trip."

The girls bid their goodbyes to the little yellow elephant and carried the pies back to their camp.

**To be continued...**


	10. Cooling Off Break

"Ahh!"

_Snap._

Thump.

Crackle.

"Hissss.."

_Zip._

"Marshall!?"

_Shuffle._

"Ugh!" Fionna groans, as she finally sits up and whips the sleep from her eyes. Crawling towards the end of her and Cake's tent, she unzips it and looks outside. "What's going on out here?" She said, stepping out of her tent and shielding her eyes from the sun to get a better look at what's making all the noise.

Marshall was hiding out in the leaves of a tree, with Prince Gumball standing below it with an umbrella in his hand. Both boys stopped what they were doing when they heard the sound of Fionna's voice and turned to look at her.

"What happened?" Fionna asked again.

"Well some animal came and ate a big hole in my tent and I got hit by the sun. I flew to the trees for shade but I ended up falling back to the ground. And I think I woke up Gumball here," Marshall said, pointing her head towards Gumball.

Gumball looked from Marshall to Fionna and said, "He did but I was going to wake up soon anyways, and when I saw what was happening I brought him this umbrella." Gumball held up the umbrella to show Fionna.

Marshall groaned and swiped the umbrella from Gumball's hands and held it above his head, then he floated back to the ground. "Talk about rude awakening," Marshall said under his breath.

"More like two rude awakenings," Fionna said. They both look at her a bit confused at first but then noticed that she just rolled out of her tent and her hair was a mess,she too was awoken by Marshall's screams.

"Sorry Fionna," Marshall said, trying to laugh it off.

"No it's fine," Fionna said, waving her hands at them. "At least you didn't burn to a crisp. That's all that matters."

"What about Cake did I wake her too?"

"N'aw. That girl can sleep through anything."

"Well I don't know about you guys but I'm hungry. How about we eat breakfast and hit the road?" Gumballsuggested. Fionna and Marshall happily agreed and Gumball got right to cooking.

After breakfast the four friends pack up their belongings and started towards the mountains, with Fionnaand Cake once again taking the lead, leaving both the guys with nothing to but play follow the leader.

By noon they all reached the mountains. The sun was at its highest point, which meant the hottest time of the day. The mountains did shade them a bit from the sun, but it was still pretty humid.

"Ugh! Fionna is there any more water?" Cake whined, as she crawled out of Fionna's bag to check the canteen.

"No, you drank the rest, remember?"

"But it's soooo hot."

"It's just humid, Cake. It's probably not as bad if you didn't hide out in my bag."

Cake groaned and grew back to her normal size and started walking along side Fionna again. She stretched her arms out and snatched the map from Fionna's hand to get a look at it.

"Hey!"

"Isn't there supposed to be a late nearby or at least coming up soon?"

"I don't know but I hope there is. I could go for a swim."

"Same here," Gumball said from behind them. He whipped some sweat from his forehead and looked at Marshall. "I don't see how you can stand the heat in that sweater you're wearing."

Marshall smirked and looked at all three of his traveling partners. "Unlike you three living, breathing, flesh folk. I'm a vampire and vampires are not easily as effected by the elements as you guys are."

"Well maybe you can fly a head of us and see if you can spot a lake for us, flesh folk, because we ARE easily affected," Gumball snapped. The heat was making everyone in an unhappy mood, including the usually nice, Gumball. "It's too hot for us to walk fast and you can fly, so.."

"I don't see why I have to look," Marshall glared at Gumball but Fionna cut in.

"Please Marshall, please find us a lake." Fionna asked, her eyes all big and sparkling, pleading Marshall to help them.

Marshall sighed but flew up high enough in the air to see farther in the distance. He looked around a bit before floating back down to the ground. "The lake is just past those rocks."

"WATER!" Cake yelled. She stretched her legs, grabbed Fionna and Gumball, and ran to the lake. Once there she put everyone down, shrunk her legs, and immediately started drinking some of the water.

Gumball ran to Cake's side and started grabbing palms full of water in his hands and splashing his face with it. After a few splashing he looked up at Fionna. "Are you coming Fio-"Gumball's words were cut short when he spotting Fionna throwing her traveling back off to her side and removing some of her clothes. "Fionna?"

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going in." Fionna removed more clothes until she was wearing nothing but her bra and underwear. Tossing her clothes to the side, Fionna took a few steps back before running and jumping in.

As she splashing into the cool lake, some water droplets made their way over to Cake and Gumball, getting them wet too.

Cake hissed and jumped back. "FIONNA!"

Gumball didn't move, but stayed where he was. He watched as Fionna floated on her back in the water. Cake tried to yell at her, but Fionna didn't listen and Gumball couldn't look away.

Gumball didn't hear Marshall come up to him so when Marshall spoke, he jumped. "What are you looking at Bubba?"

"Ah! Oh, um, nothing…." Gumball said, shaking his head and looking away, hiding the blush on his face. Marshall already knew that Gumball was pretty much gawking at Fionna, but he decided to cut Gumball some slack and act like he believed he wasn't doing what he was doing.

Marshall floated towards the water and smiled at a happy Fionna, splashing in the water. Gumball didn't like the way Marshall was looking at Fionna and ran over to his side. "Hey Fionna is there room for two in the water?"

"You bet! Come on in!" Gumball smiled and looked at Marshall. Marshall smiled at candy prince, making him frown and walk away embarrassed.

Gumball placed his travel belongings next to Fionna's and removed his shirt before walking into the water and swimming out towards Fionna.

Cake stopped her yelling about the water since the sun had already dried it on her fur, so she went back to drinking and then relaxed in the grass. Marshall floated up to the sassy cat and with his body and umbrella blocking the cat's sun.

"Hey!"

"What's wrong Cake? You don't want to go swimming too?" Marshall swooped down and grabbed Cake by her ankles and floated above the water.

"MARSHALL! Put me down!"

"What was that? Put you in the water?"

"NO! Marshall, no!" Cake's flailed, trying to get out of Marshall's grip, but he eventually put her back on the grass and started to laugh. "That wasn't funny, Marshall. How would you like it if I took that umbrella of yours?"

Marshall just ignored the cat and continued to laugh. "Calm down, kitty."

"Calm down? CALM DOWN?! Ho-"

"Shhhhh….." Marshall shushed, holding a hand up to Cake's mouth.

Cake pushed Marshall's hand away from her face and glared at the vampire. "Don't shush me, Marshall LeeAbadeer."

"Shut up Cake! I hear something."

"What?"

Cake quieted and listened for any noise that Marshall could be hearing. She didn't know what he was listening to but to her it just sounded incoming thunder, which sounded nice since it was really hot, but the ground shouldn't be shaking. Then she saw it and his eyes widen and her tail frizzed out.

A large rock came flying at them. Marshall, thinking quick, grabbed Cake and pushed her out the way just in time and the rock crashed into the very spot on the ground they once stood. Cake freaking out, got to her feet and ran towards the edge of the lake and yelled out one word to Gumball and Fionna.

"GIANT!"

**To be continued...**


	11. The Real Hero

"GIANT!"

"Huh?!" Fionna and Gumball both turned their attention to the panicked Cake. The cat was jumping up and down trying to get them both to look towards the forest.

The giant was over a hundred feet tall and looked to be made of wood and moss and had trees growing from his head and shoulders. His eyes were yellow and red and his feet and hands where large tree roots.

"Get out of the water you two, NOW!" Cake screamed again but they couldn't make out the words she was telling them and just floated in the water with confused looks on their faces.

"Oh for Glob's sake!" Marshall yelled, before floating out over the water and towards the adventuress and candy prince. Stopping just above them, he pointed towards the giant approaching the lake with another large rock in his hand, ready to throw. "Giant she said, get your butt's out of the water before that rock becomes the last thing you see," Marshall hisses at the two.

"Oh my glob!" Fionna yelled, immediately swimming towards the shore, with Gumball not far behind her.

Once they were finally out of the water, it was too late and another rock was already flying at great speeds right at them. Fionna hadn't noticed it until Gumball jumped beside her and pushed her out of the way.

Fionna was safe but Gumball wasn't as lucky and the large rock had hit the left half of his body in the process, before smashing into the mountains behind them. The ground shook from the force and knocked everyone off balance.

"Fionna!" Cake panicked from the other side of the lake. She stretched her way towards Fionna and was at her sister's side in seconds. "Fionna are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Fionna said, brushing the dirt off her skin from the fall and looking towards Gumball who was trying to stand up from being knocked off his feet.

Cake spun around and ran towards the giant, stretching to match his height. "No one messes with my sister," She hissed, aiming one of her claws at the giant's eyes. The beast dodged her paw attack and looked back at her, angry. He screeched once before one of his fists came into contact with Cake's cheek and she went flying backwards from the force.

Cake slams into a nearby rock, causing smaller rocks to fall below and almost hitting the other three. The contact caused Cake to return to her normal size before she too fell to the ground before her friends.

"CAKE!" Fionna cried, running to her sister's aid. Cake was cut up and had a few bruises but very much alive.

Marshall hissed and flew at the giants face and started clawing at his skull with his free hand, while the other clutched to his umbrella.

The giant seemed more irritated by Marshall then angry and swatted at the little vampire like a mosquito, throwing him back and making him lose his grip on the umbrella.

The vampire hissed as the sun came into contact with his skin and fell to the ground. He scurried towards the closest shaded spot to protect himself.

"Marshall!" Fionna yelled, worried and angry. She spun around to face the giant. He looked back at the small girl and laughed.

Fionna retrieved her sword from her bag and got into battle position. One battle cry later, Fionna was at full sprint towards to the hideous beast, her sword ready for penetration.

She leaps up and lands on his left arm and started running up to his shoulder and towards his head. She swung her sword and chopped off one of the trees growing from the beast's head.

The giant screamed in pain and went to grab Fionna, but she was able to slip away and jump on his head and down to his right shoulder. She swung her sword again, chopping off another tree. The giant screamed again and this time more angry than before.

Fionna hadn't see his hand this time and he was able to snatch her up in his fists and hold her out in front of his face.

He screeched at Fionna, and the horrible order from his breath caused Fionna to almost pass out and she ended up dropping her sword to the ground below.

Fionna was filled with fear when the giant started moving his hand towards his rotten mouth. "He's going to eat her!" Gumball yelled, fear on his face.

Marshall, Gumball and Cake all started picking up rocks and anything heavy they could find and throwing them at the giant, causing him to stop what he was doing to see what the fuss was about.

Fionna tried to take this opportunity to break free of his grip but he noticed and turned his attention back atFionna and screeched again; with all his force, he threw the tiny blonde girl towards the ground.

Forgetting the pain she was in, Cake had stretched out in time to catch her sister before she hit the ground.

Once he knew Fionna was safe, Gumball stood. He forgot about all the pain on the left half of his body and ran towards the giant, grabbing Fionna's sword from the ground by his feet and running out of the waybefore he was stepped on.

"Gumball what are you doing?!" Fionna yelled at him, fearing for his life.

Gumball ignored the calls and ran towards the giant again, but aiming for an attack. He dodged a few punches the giant threw towards the ground and got close enough to swing the sword and chop off one of his feet.

The beast screeched again and while he was crying in pain, Gumball took the opportunity to go after his other foot and chop that one off too.

The giant went falling towards the earth and finally landing on his face in the grass below. Within seconds he started to fall apart and his body became new plants and trees for the earth, and not even a minute later it looked like nothing more than a small hill and very much part of the forest.

Gumball limps back to his friends and drops Fionna's swords beside her before falling to his knees and grabbing his left arm in pain.

"Yay, Gumball saved us all," Cake cheered.

Fionna saw the pain he felt and ran towards his side. "Gumball you're hurt!"

"No, no, I'm fine. Just badly bruised," He tried to convince Fionna but she knew him well enough to know when he's lying or not.

"No, you're not. Come on, let's get out of the sun and into some shade," Fionna demanded.

Gumball didn't protest and let Fionna help him under a tree. He leaned back against the tree trunk and tried his hardest not to show so much pain.

Fionna started to dig in her bag and seconds later pulled out a small bottle that held something special inside. She took an eye dropper and sucked some of the liquid from the bottle and placed a few drops of the stuff on Gumball's left half of his body.

It immediately started working and the pain and bruised started to vanish from Gumball. He started moving his arm in every which way and looked at Fionna, amazed. "What was that stuff?"

"Cyclops tears," Fionna smiled. She placed the bottle back in her bag and looked back at Gumball, happy that he was alright now.

"Thank you," Gumball said.

"I should thank you Gumball. You did save me from getting hit by the rock and stopped the giant from killing us all. You were so brave today and strong," Fionna smiled shyly.

Gumball blushed at Fionna's compliments and looked away, staring at the grass below. Just when the silence was getting awkward, Cake and Marshall approached them, holding the rest of their belongings and dumped them all by their feet.

Cake had her own bottle of Cyclops tears and had used it on herself just before helping Marshall grab their things, and Marshall had retrieved his umbrella safely, thanks to Cake.

"Gumball, I'm so glad you're okay, sweetness," Cake said happily, stretching to give him a big hug.

Marshall just stayed where he was and said, "Good going with that giant, Gummy."

"Thanks," He responded before looking at Cake again.

"How did you know to chop of his feet?" Cake asked, curious.

"I read it in a book once."

"Well this is one of those times that being a bookworm actually came in handy and saved the day, huhgumbutt?" Marshall teased.

Gumball stood and did a playful punch on his friend's arm. "Blood sucker."

"Gumwad."

"Alright you two, quit playing around. We must get going, we have a long day of traveling a head of us," Cake said, handing Gumball back his clothes.

She shoved the prince towards a tree to change behind. He smiled at the cat and looked back to see her do the same to Fionna, pushing her towards a tree further away. As she walked to where her sister told her to go she caught Gumball's eyes on her and smiled back at him before continuing towards the tree again.

Gumball turned back towards the tree that Cake told him to change behind, and thought about today's events. He blushed at the thought that he was the one that got to save Fionna this time around and that made him feel like a real hero.

**To be continued...**


	12. A Party in the Forest

The time Fionna and her friends made it through the rest of the mountains the sun had gone down. There was nothing but miles of forest ahead of them and they decided to rest there for the night before continuing on another stretch of land.

Marshall put down his umbrella and stretched out his arms and back, while the others found rocks or tree stumps to rest on for a bit.

The gang settled down under a large tree with branches large enough to cover all three tents and a campfire, shade them from rain, and sunrays when morning hits.

Gumball got right to work on making a fire while Marshall and Cake went to search for food. Marshall offered to look for food on his own, but the cat didn't trust him to find any good food. "I'm coming with, the last thing we need is a vampire looking for food."

"What do you think I'm going to bring back, Road kill?"

"That's better then what I had in mind," Cake said, stretching ahead of Marshall and taking the lead farther into the forest. "Be right back guys."

Marshall groaned and followed the cat into the forest just as Gumball had caught the wood of the campfire a blaze. "There," he smiled, smacking his hands together to knock loose dust and dirt from his hands. He then went looking in his bag and pulled out a container of water and poured a bit of the liquid on his palms to clean them off of the rest of the dirt.

Fionna looked into the flames of the campfire and watched the pieces of wood in the center glow a bright red and orange as the heat burned it. She could have stared at the beautiful flames all night if the brightness of the fire wasn't irritating to her eyes.

Fionna looked up and away from the burning wood and let her eyes adjust to the night again before looking at what's on the other side of the flames, Prince Gumball. He was paying no mind to the flames and instead was writing something down in a notebook he had brought with him. She wasn't sure if it was a diary or journal or a place where he kept his science formulas, but he seemed to write in it a lot.

Gumball finished writing a few things down before closing the book and putting aside and looking up atFionna with a smile. "Hey," he said, getting Fionna's attention.

"Hey," Fionna responded with a faint smile before looking down at her feet again. She watched a small ant carrying a leaf crawl passed her feet and towards an ant hill that was just a few feet away. Gumball called her name and her attention was once again brought back to him.

"What's wrong Fionna? You seem down," He asked with a concerned voice.

Fionna looked at her feet again and then back up at him. She had so many things going on in her head and most of them involved Gumball. She still wanted to know why he doesn't want to give her a chance; she wanted the real reason he won't.

Fionna took a deep inhale and looked up at Gumball again. "I just…. I want to know what it is about me you don't like?"

Gumball's brows raised in surprised but he kept silent.

"I mean besides the age difference what is it about me that you don't like and why you won't go out with me? Is it my hair color? Is it because I'm not a princess? Do you only think of me as a guy friend like you do Marshall?"

"Oh, um…" Gumball didn't really know what to say, he didn't really have a real explanation to why he never gave her a chance. With no real answer, he stayed silent and didn't respond.

Fionna was tired of silence and was about to break it and asked him again and hopefully he'll answer, but as she took an inhale Marshall and Cake was heard from a distance and she shut her mouth again just was she spotted the two return.

"Hey ya'll we brought food," Cake smiled, running to the fire and dumping two large paws full of fruits from the forest on the ground, next to Fionna and Gumball.

Fionna looked at the fruit and then Cake and then to Gumball who looked at her. She stood and looked at Cake again and said, "I'm not very hungry right now. I think I wanna walk around for a bit."

"Okay, sweetie. You want me to come with you?" Cake asked, patting a paw on Fionna's shoulder. Fionna just nodded and they both walked together to a small clear field nearby. It was out of hearing range, so no one could hear what they were saying unless they got up and walked closer.

Marshall raised a brow at Gumball and the prince lifted both hands up in defense. "I didn't say anything, I swear."

Marshall sighed and sat next to the pink prince and look at him. "Maybe that's the problem."

Gumball remained silent for a few awkward seconds before asking Marshall, "Why does Fionna want to look for other humans, Marshall? She never showed any interest in other humans up until recently. There has to be a reason she decided to look for them now."

Marshall didn't want to tell Gumball the real reason Fionna wanted to find humans, but he'll eventually find out sooner or later so why not tell him now? The vampire took an unneeded breath of air before looking at the prince dead in the eyes. "Gumball—"

"Hey you guys!" Cake and Fionna came running from the direction that had walked off to before, and stopped just a few feet from the fire. "We heard music coming from further into the forest. I think there's a party going on. We should go," Cake said, while Fionna nodded and smiled at them.

Both guys looked at one another before standing and following the girls. They walked further into the forest and began to hear party music; their pace quicken until they all stopped just before a small clearing where a bunch of forest animals were dancing and singing along to music being played by some elderly bears with instruments.

Fionna giggled at the sight and yelled, "Come on," Before she ran and joined in all the fun. Cake wasn't far behind; she shrunk down to the size of a small animal and joined a group of squirrels in a conga line. Marshall chuckled and playfully bumped Gumball's shoulder before joining Fionna in a dance.

Gumball just hung back; he leaned against a tree and smiled as he watched all the animals and his friends dance and have a great time. He eyes landed on Fionna who was now dancing alone in a crowd of wild animals. He smiled and watched until she stopped dancing to walk over to a tree near the singing bears. He squint his eyes and tried to look pass the crowd to see what she saw and noticed a lonely looking fox with no one to dance with.

Fionna saw the fox and wanted him to have fun too, so she walked to him and offered a hand. He took it and Fionna pulled him to the dance floor and in seconds he was smiling too.

Gumball watched in awe at the sight of Fionna's kind heart. She cared for the animals of the forest and helped people in need, and included all in the fun. Those things are what you would find in a Queen of a kingdom.

Gumball's face flushed a darker shade of pink when he realized his thoughts and quickly looked over to another group of animals dancing. He had hoped Marshall wasn't watching him when it happened and thankfully he was too busy dancing with a heron.

"Hey Gumball," Fionna yelled. Gumball looked up and before he knew it, Fionna was pulling him away from the tree and making him dance with her and the animals. He really didn't want to dance, but all the smiles and the music was all too welcoming and he couldn't help but join along.

The music got louder and faster and the dancing quickened. Gumball danced with more energy and Fionnawas laughing at all the excitement of the party. Gumball couldn't help but laugh too as Fionna took both of his hands and they spun in circles.

The music suddenly ended and the elder bears started up a new tune, a much slower one. Without hesitating Gumball closed the space between them and started to slow dance with Fionna. The closeness between them caused Fionna to blush and look over his left shoulder, while he looked over hers.

The music continued and they gotten a bit more comfortable with dancing to a slow song together andFionna once again smiled. He spun her circles and when the sung ended, he dipped her. The animals clapped at how the two danced so beautifully and when Fionna was brought back up, Gumball smiled along withFionna.

The smiles faded and the two locked eyes. The animals went about dancing again but Fionna and Gumballremained still for what seemed like minutes, but it was only seconds. Their faces inched closer until their noses were almost touching. "Fionna I…" Gumball said, closing the remaining distance between them, but screams stopped Gumball and they both turned their attention to the panicked animals.

"SNAKE!" One little rabbit yelled.

Fionna ran out of Gumball's arms and pulled out her sword. She ran to the screaming animals and found a lone baby beaver about to be attacked by a very large snake. Without a second thought about her own safety Fionna jumped at the snake, swinging her sword and chopping off the head of the poisonous being.

It fell limp and the beaver breathed a sigh of relief. The other animals all began to cheer for the adventuress and chant her name. She looked up at all the happy faces of the animals, jumping up and down and throwing dirt in the air as a way of thanking her.

Fionna smiled back at each and every one of them as a way of saying you're welcome to the grateful forest animals. Her eyes looked up and saw Gumball in the back smiling at her too, so she smiled back at him.

Marshall watched as Gumball smiled at Fionna and when he looked away Marshall took the opportunity to flash a smile himself at the pink prince. Gumball just frowned and turned his attention away from the vampire and walked off, but not before Marshall grabbed his shoulder to stopping him.

Gumball looked up at the grinning vampire again. "What?"

Marshall chuckled and shook his head at the silly, clueless prince and said, "Can't mess with destiny dude."

Gumball flushed dark pink and pulled the vampire's hand off his shoulder and walked out of the clearing.

**To be continued...**


	13. Jealousy

The next day everyone was already packed and ready to cover more ground. The morning started out withFionna and Cake taking the lead like always but as a few hours passed, Cake slowed down and started up a conversation with Marshall about the mathematical party the night before.

Fionna walked with the map in hand, taking the lead alone. She stared at the map for the longest, but her thoughts where elsewhere. She thought of the almost kiss that happened at the party last night and how itwas ruined by the dangerous party crasher looking for a snack.

Gumball wanted to kiss her, she knew it from how close he was getting. Was he falling for her? NO! She immediately pushed the crazy idea out of her head. Gumball doesn't love her and will never love her.

Why was Gumball doing this to her now anyways? He turned her down so many times and now he's acting almost like he wants something more. He was just playing games with her heart-strings and she didn't like it. She must move on and remove these crazy thoughts from her brain. She doesn't want to have false hope.

Gumball noticed that Fionna was distant today. Was it something he said or did? Or didn't say or do? He didn't know why but when he tried to walk along side of her or start a conversation she quicken her pace and ignored his questions.

Gumball wanted to get to the bottom of Fionna's sudden distant attitude and once again sped up to walk next to her. This time he was able to keep up with her long enough for him to ask her, "Fionna what's wrong? Did I do something to upset you?"

Fionna shot him a glare; tears threaten to escape her eyes. Now he's acting like that almost kiss didn't happen last night? "You tell me?" Fionna said, before she took off running to get away from him and everyone else.

"What happened? Where's Fionna going?" Cake asked, concerned.

Gumball didn't answer and tried to run after her. "Fionna!"

She was upset about something and he wanted to know why and help her, but she was way too fast and he ended up stopping to lean against a tree with one hand.

Marshall knew he was much faster than Gumball and offered to go after her himself. "I'll go see what's wrong."

Marshall took off after Fionna and he was easily able to catch up to her. He flew in front of her and stoppedFionna in her tracks and forced to look at him and talk.

Fionna, with wet eyes, looked up at Marshall. "I can't do this Marshall; I just can't" She started to sob, "Being around him all the time. It's agonizing to see him every day and want to kiss, but can't. Its torture and I just can't do it anymore."

At this time Fionna was crying her eyes out and she just wanted to punch something, anything. She swung her fist at the closest tree causing leaves to fall and pieces of bark to fly back at her face, but she seemed unfazed about it.

Marshall grabbed Fionna's shoulder and forced her to look at him. "Fionna, get a hold of yourself. You can do it. I know you can. You can make it through the rest of the journey. You're a strong girl. If you can fight off monsters and safe lives then you can handle a few more days with the stubborn prince."

Fionna took a deep breath and whipped her eyes of tears and smiled at Marshall. "Okay, thank you."

"No problem. What are friends for?" Marshall smiled, before pulling Fionna into a tight hug.

Fionna hug back and they just stood there hugging for the longest. She needed the hug and was really grateful to have Marshall there to keep her calm and collected.

Gumball knew Marshall would be able to stop Fionna from running any further and immediately started running after them in hopes to be able to catch up to Fionna too. Gumball ran passed more trees and followed the trail of fallen leaves from trees and bushes.

The prince stopped when he heard voices that he knew belonged to Fionna and Marshall. He slowed his pace down to walk and followed their voices until he spotted them. He froze at the sight he saw; Marshall held Fionna in a hug, his face buried in her neck while his hand brushed her hair as if comforting her, Fionna's eyes were closed as her face rested on his chest and her arms wrapped around him.

His brain and his common sense knew that Marshall was comforting Fionna, but the sight he saw had him sick to his stomach and he wanted to barf. The sick feeling then turned to anger and he almost felt betrayed in a way, which was stupid because Marshall did nothing wrong.

Gumball took a few steps back before turning around and running back to Cake. Cake had stayed behind to watch over Gumball and Marshall's bags while they went after Fionna. By the time he got back he was breathing heavy and almost couldn't speak.

"What happened? Where's Fionna? Did you find her?"

Gumball caught his breath and looked at Cake with a disappoint look on his face. "Yeah, he found her."Gumball grabbed his back and continued the walk.

Fionna let go of her friend, Marshall and smiled. She was so glad he came alone on the trip. She wouldn't know what to do if he wasn't here. "We better get back."

Smiling back to his friend, Marshall said, "Yeah."

Fionna and Marshall got back too not long after and noticed how far ahead Gumball had already gotten. They didn't really question it and just grabbed their things and followed him.

The four friends covered a few more miles before the sun started to settle and it began to get dark. Silence was between all of them as they did their usually routine. They each set up their tents, Gumball made the fire, Marshall checked for dangers and predators, Cake cooked the dinner, and Fionna check the map and planned out the next day's travels.

As the night went on Cake fell asleep and Marshall excused himself for a bit and wondered off into the forest alone. Fionna finished writing down a few things about which route they should take tomorrow and Gumballsat against a tree, reading a book.

Both of them were alone and they knew it, but neither wanted to speak and pretended they weren't alone at all. Fionna tried avoiding starting any conversation with Gumball; she wanted to distant herself from him in hopes to make this trip a lot easier.

Gumball however wanted to talk to her, but didn't know what to say. His mind went back to the sight he saw in the forest. He kept telling himself that it was a hug but it didn't stop the confused emotions that were building up inside him.

What's going on with him anyways? He didn't know why such a thing as a hug bugged him so much when he seen them hug many times before. Was it possible that he was jealous of Marshall? Maybe he wanted to bethe one to comfort her and help her with her problems?

Gumball knew now would be a great time to ask her what happened and why she was upset, maybe take this opportunity to comfort her too, but didn't know how.

He closed his book and looked up and saw Fionna putting away the map and a few other things. He knew it was now or never to comfort her. The prince stood on his feet and walked the short distance over to Fionnabefore taking a seat next to her.

Fionna heard him approach. She hoped he was just taking a walk or wanted to get closer to the fire, but unfortunately he sat right next her. "Fionna, what's wrong? Are you upset about something?"

Fionna sighed and looked at him, "I can't be around you Gumball; it's hard."

Prince Gumball looked at Fionna confused, "What? What do you mean?"

"It's hard being around you all the time Gumball, knowing that I have feelings for you and knowing I can't have you. You turned me down so many times…. I just can't be near you."

Her words felt like knives being stabbed in his chest. Gumball was taken aback by Fionna's honesty and bravery of telling him exactly how she felt and why she didn't want to be near him, but even more confused because if she didn't want to be near him, why did she invite him?

"Then why did you invite me with you on this trip?"

"I wanted support," Fionna said, knowing she couldn't tell him the entire truth about this trip just yet, "But I didn't know it was going to be this hard."

"So what do you want me to do then?"

"I don't know… Do what you want, just… just leave me alone," Fionna turned away and crawled inside her tent, leaving Gumball alone by the fireplace.

He didn't know what to say or do after that. He sat there with soreness deep within his chest and didn't know why. Was what Fionna told him hurt him that bad? It was all too confusing for him; he had hurt feelings before, so why was this time different?

Gumball got to his feet and walked slowly back to his tent. He knelt down and unzipped it as Marshall flew back into camp.

"Going to bed already Gumbutt?" He teased.

Gumball wasn't really in the mood to tease back this time and instead responded with a blank expression, "Yeah."

Marshall watched Gumball crawled into his tent and zip it closed behind him. He was confused at what had happened when he was gone, but he just ignored and too crawled inside his tent to get a night's rest.

**To be continued...**


	14. Realization

The few days was mostly silent, besides the vampire jokes that Marshall was trying to tell. No one really got the punch line but that was it, it was a vampire joke, only he would get it. Finally he just gave up and Cake gave it a try. She managed to get a laugh out of Marshall but Gumball and Fionna remained silent and stayed a good distance away from one another.

Ever since that night Gumball hasn't spoken a word to Fionna, not even giving her a glance as she passed by him and his tent as they were all packing or settling down for the night. He was trying to give the space she needed and asked from him. He didn't want to upset her more, but he found it hard not to talk to her.

Today Prince Gumball trailed a few feet behind Marshall and Cake, staring at the ground as they walked. He felt alone, left out, and heart-broken. No one seemed to notice at all Gumball's distance and sadness, maybe because he was so good at hiding it from others.

Fionna was ahead of everyone, map in hand like always. She stopped and turned to face her friends, lowering the map and letting it hang by her side. "We're making good timing. I think now would be a good time to start stocking up on food supply to last us for the remaining trip."

They all just nodded and Cake stretched over to Fionna's side. "I think I saw a pear tree back a little a ways. It shouldn't be far," Cake said.

"Great, I'll come with you then," Fionna smiled, but then turned her attention to the boys. "We'll be right back you guys. Why don't you go look for food too." She then turned her head and her and Cake started to walk back to search for the pear tree Cake saw.

Marshall and Gumball didn't hesitate or argue, they immediately started their search for food as well. Marshall managed to find an apple tree further off the trail they were on and he started to collect the food he would be eating on this trip. As for Gumball he remained on the ground not far from Marshall, picking berries from several bushes nearby and placing them in a food container he had brought with him.

There wasn't much talking going between the two. Marshall was singing a song as he picked the fruit off the tree, but Gumball stayed silent, lost in his own thoughts. He thought about the previous days and weeks and thought about Fionna. It seemed he had Fionna on his mind a lot; he had no idea why until now.

"Hey Marshall?" Gumball suddenly asked, dumping a hand full of berries in the container, filling it up.

"Yeah Gumball?" Marshall responded, floating down from the tree with one arm full of apples. He had one apple in his other hand, sucking the red as he landed on the ground where is was shaded by trees. "Watchaneed?"

Gumball just looked at the container in his hand then to the bush in front of him. "Remember back at the Candy Kingdom when I told you about the kiss Fionna and I had?"

"Yeah?" Marshall said, looking to Gumball, suddenly interested in what he's gonna say.

"And remember when I mentioned a spark and you said that meant that Fionna and I are meant to be?"Gumball continued, still not looking away from the berry bush.

"Well yeah," Marshall said, floating to Gumball. "Why you bringing this up Gumball?"

Gumball just stared at the bush, one of his hands playing with the leaves as the silence grew.

"Gumball?" Marshall said again, floating closer to the prince and looking at his face, which was looking down and not at him. "What's wrong?"

Gumball finally looked up at stared at the red-eyed vampire before him. "I think I'm in love with her Marshall."

"Fionna?!" Marshall said, shocked that Gumball would even admit it after all this time of saying no and hiding his feelings. "You sure?"

Gumball sighed. "Yeah."

"Then you should tell her, now."

"NO!" Gumball shouted but quickly lowered his voice. "I mean, I can't."

"And why not?" Marshall looked at him as if he was nuts.

"Because It's too late." Gumball narrowed his eyes and looked at the leaves of the bush in front of him.

Marshall sighed and placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. "It's never too late."

Gumball's head quickly looked up at the vampire and he frowned. "But it is. A few days ago Fionna told me to stay away and don't talk to her. She doesn't want anything to do with me. You know how much that tore up my insides?" Gumball, just as quickly, looked away again.

Marshall kept his hand where is was and said, "She probably only said that because she can't handle looking or talking to you because she loved you too much. She was just trying to make it easier on her to move on. It's never too late."

There was a short silence before Gumball's shoulder's relaxed under Marshall's hand and he sighed. "Alright. I'll talk to her tomorrow. I just need to find the right words to tell her."

Marshall smiled and removed his hand from his shoulder. "That a boy, Gumball. And don't worry, I won't say a thing to her or Cake, not until you talk to Fionna."

"Thanks Marshall," Gumball smiled.

"No problem," he smirked. Marshall then floated over to his travel bag and began to dump the apples he picked inside, closing it up and swinging the bag onto his back.

Gumball just smiled and pulled his own travel bag off his back and opening it up. He dug inside for the lid and sealed the plastic container full of berries before placing it back into his bag.

Gumball stood back up and put his bag back on. Him and Marshall then went looking for the girls; they found them when they reached the path they were traveling on before, talking to one another. Both girls went silent as the boys appeared beside them and smiled. "So what did you get?" Cake asked.

"Well I got myself apples and Gumball here got..." Marshall paused and looked to Gumball for an answer.

"Berries," he said.

"Yeah Berries," Marshall smiled.

"That's great! Fionna and I found the pear tree and these!" Cake said, lifting up her paw which was filledwith peanuts.

"Where did you get those?" Gumball asked, looking closer at the peanuts and picking one up.

"We found a peanut farmer and he gave us some," Cake said, before dropping the peanuts into a small bag and closing it. She looked back up at her friends and smiled. "Shall we carry on?"

"Sounds like a plan," Marshall said, grabbing an apple from his bag, dropping in his shoulder and letting is roll down the length of his arm and land in his hand, then he brought it up to his mouth and sunk his fang inside, sucking the red from it before tosses behind him.

The apple flew a little too close to Gumball's head and he had to dodge it. "Hey watch it!" He sneered at the vampire.

Marshall laughed and responded, "Sorry Bubba."

Gumball just signed and started to walk along side Marshall as the gang proceeded on with their trip, this time with much more talking. Fionna and Cake chatted away to one another, Marshall was talking to Gumballabout a bunch of different things but Gumball wasn't paying much attention. His mind was elsewhere, thinking about how he was gonna approached Fionna the next day and tell her his feelings.

**To be continued...**


	15. Missing Chances

Gumball was a nervous wreck. He couldn't sleep at all that night. His mind replayed the conversation he had with Marshall. He had confessed to him that he was in love with Fionna. He didn't know how it happened or why so suddenly. If you were to ask him just a week before if he loved her his answer would have been an easy no, but now, now he couldn't even sleep. He was kept up all night with thoughts on how to confront Fionna about this. He was both nervous and exited. He didn't know what her reaction will be.

Morning came quickly, much too quickly. Gumball rolled over in his sleeping bag, burying his face in the fluffy pink pillow, wanting to have least a few more minutes of sleep, a few seconds even.

"Goooooooooood morning!" Shouted an annoyingly familiar voice. There was a zip of a tent followed by a sharp pain to his back. Gumball sprang up from his sleeping bag, knocking the vampire off him and on to the ground.

"Glob! Marshall, do you have to do that?" Gumball groaned, whipping away the sleep that had built up his eyes during the two-hour sleep he had.

"But's it's such a great day." He jumped into the air and floated uncomfortably close to Gumball's face. "A perfect day for confessing feelings to a certain young lady."

"Shh!" Gumball hushed Marshall, cupping a hand over the vampire's mouth. "Do you have to be so loud?"

Pushing the prince's hand away, Marshall chuckled. "Dude, it's okay. Fionna and Cake are not here."

"What? Where are they?"

"They went to clean up at lake not far from here."

"Oh, when will they be back."

"Probably soon. I wanted to wake you before they got back."

Gumball sighed. Marshall laughed and floated out of the tent, Gumball not far behind him.

"Hello boys!" Cake called out, waving a paw as her and Fionna made their way back into camp. Fionna had damp hair, that had been pulled back into a ponytail. Cake however wasn't wet, which didn't surprise either guys. "You gonna go clean up too?"

"Yep!" Marshall said, holding up his umbrella with one hand and a towel with another. Gumball just nodded to the cat as he gathered some of his things for a quick wash.

"Okay, Fionna and I will start breakfast then," Cake smiled.

Gumball glance at Fionna, who didn't bother looking his way. She kept her gaze to the grass by her feet and her arms wrapped tightly around her damp towel.

With no more words exchanged the two men left the camp and went to the lake. Gumball took one end of the lake, while Marshall took a more shaded spot near some rocks.

There they bathed in silence, rocks blocking the view of the other. At some point Marshall started to sing, which didn't bother Gumball. The tune was welcomed; It was far better than the silence.

The trip to the lake was quick. The scent of fish being fried in a pot could be smelled throughout the woods, it was rather inviting and made Gumball's mouth water, which made him hungry.

"Hey ladies," Marshall smiled, floating into camp and taking a seat beside Fionna, who was already digging into her breakfast. "I see you made fish."

"Yep, we caught it in the lake," Fionna responded, taking another bite.

"Don't worry Marshall, we have something for you too," Cake said. She turned and rummaged through her bag, pulling out an apple, a few cherries, and a strawberry. She stretched her arm around the fire and handed them over to Marshall.

"Thanks, cat," he smirked and immediately started to suck the red from the apple.

Gumball had taken a seat across from Marshall, between the two girls. Cake had handed him a plate of food when he made himself comfortable and he thanked her in return, then began digging in.

Breakfast went without a hitch. To their luck no animals bothered them and they were able to finish in peace, well maybe besides a few terrible jokes Marshall tried out on the girls, but that was about it.

An hour later they gang was packing their things for another long day of traveling. Marshall was looking at the map, trying to estimate a proper length of time until they reached this village. Everyone was already growing anxious for this trip was already coming very close to an end.

"I say we might reach them before the end of the day." Cake smiled, taking the map from Marshall and look it over.

"This is great. If we move quickly, we can get there before noon possibly." Cake said, neatly folding the map in her paws and stuffing it in her bag.

Meanwhile Gumball had finished backing his bag, and he hand swung it over his shoulder and stood up from the ground. His eyes went to Fionna, who was still packing and then to Marshall and Cake, who were occupied with the map. Maybe this is his chance to talk to Fionna and tell her who he feels.

Prince Gumball walked over to Fionna. He stopped short of a foot from her and looked down. She froze in her place and she looked up. "Yes, Gumball," she spoke, then went back to packing her things.

Gumball knelt to her level and started to help her pack, grabbing a few of her things and handing them over to her. She didn't argue or protest his offer to help and instead accepted it, but she remained silent.

When everything was pack she zipped up her bag and put it on her back. They both stood up. "Thank you," she said, giving him a small smile.

"You're welcome," he responded. He was nervous. He wanted to tell Fionna now, get it off his chest, a quick 'I love you Fionna' and be over with it; Almost like ripping a band-aid off. Let everything out right there.

Fionna then turned and began to walk away. He was quick and grabbed her arm, stopping her from going any further. She turned and looked back him, her eyes questioning the gesture.

"Fionna," he began. "I need to talk to you."

Gumball dropped his hand from hers and she didn't move or walk away. Instead she stood and waited to hear what he had to say. "Fionna I-"

"Come on you guys! Let's go," Cake suddenly called out to them. Gumball sighed and Fionna turned away and joined Cake and Marshall.

Frustrated Gumball looked up to the vampire and gave him an annoyed look. Marshall knew by that stare alone why Gumball was a bit irritated and all he could do was give him a 'sorry dude' look back. Gumball wasn't fazed by this though, he will have his chance to talk to Fionna again soon.

Unfortunately Gumball couldn't seem to find any chance to talk to Fionna. She was either always talking to Cake, talking with Marshall, or Marshall or Cake was talking to him.

A few hours of walking and a couple of breaks later, Gumball grew even more anxious. He wanted to talk to Fionna and no one was giving him any chance to. Marshall did try to help by trying to distract Cake by making conversation, but every time he did, Cake would drag Fionna into the conversation too.

Another hour past and it was nearing 11am. Gumball finally found his opportunity to talk to Fionna. Everyone had stopped for a quick food break. Marshall went ahead of the gang, trying to see how much further until they reach their destination. Cake stayed behind but she excused herself to take care of some business. Not a better opportunity could have come.

Fionna was sitting in the grass leaning against a tree, eating a sandwich she had prepared earlier. Gumball walked over and took a seat beside her. "Fionna, I need to tell you something." Gumball didn't want to waste anymore time. He was gonna tell her now before Cake or Marshall came back.

Fionna lowered his sandwich and looked at Gumball. She saw something in his eyes but she didn't know what. Excitement, worry, nervousness, or maybe something else entirely, she wasn't sure, but it made her want to listen.

Gumball took the silence and her attention as a sign to continue. "Fionna I realized something the other day and I've tried so hard to find the time to tell you. Tell you what I've felt, and..." Gumball took a deep breath and Fionna waited for him to continue. "Fionna, I'm in-"

"FIONNA! FIONNA, FIONNA, FIONNA!"

Cake's voice was loud; She stretched her way over to the two sitting by the tree, Marshall floating right behind her. Gumball groaned and fell back against the tree.

"What is it Cake?" Fionna asked, quickly standing up and approaching her sister, worry building inside her.

"We found it!"

"Found what?"

"The village!"

Fionna's brows raised. "The what?"

"The village of lost humans. Marshall and I just found it."

"You serious?"

"As seriously as a heart attack," Marshall said, floating over to his friend. "I could smell a human a mile away and I definitely smell them."

"I even saw a few of them," Cake said, excitement in her voice. "Come on, they're not far from here."

Fionna quickly followed Cake through the forest, leaving Marshall and Gumball behind. Marshall turned to Gumball, a frown on his face. He looked worried and disappointed. Gumball didn't see why Marshall would be upset about Fionna finally finding the village, it was just humans, she wanted to find her kind, that was it. Fionna wasn't gonna be the only one left anymore. If anything Gumball should be the one upset, he lost yet another chance to confess his feelings to her. Guess he was just gonna have to wait.

**To be continued...**


	16. The Painful Truth

Cake and Marshall had been right. There, not far from where they were, was the village. Humans of all races, ages and sizes walking around. Some carried spears and dressed in old tattered clothing, other weapons and armor.

The village was a collection of tents crafted themselves, some real tents that Gumball only assumed they must have traded for. There were also huts for families; They were built from wood and rocks, roofs made from large leaves or draft wood.

This seemingly small village sat near a very large lake, one Gumball was familiar with from countless times he studied the map of the world.

"Let's go," Cake said, taking a step out of the big bush they were hiding behind, but she was soon pulled back by Gumball.

"Wait, we don't even know if they're friendly. What if they're savages and kill trespassers?" Cake's tail stiffened and she ran back behind the bushes with the others.

"Oh come on, I can take them. They're only humans. Nothing can beat the vampire king," Marshall said with pride, his chest sticking out and his hands to his sides.

Gumball rolled his eyes at vampire and continued to look ahead. Fionna remained still as she watched the humans. A couple young men around her age held guns, and they stood guard of the main entrance of the village. They must be the look outs.

Ignoring the bickering going on behind her, she stepped out of the shrubbery and walked towards the men.

"Fionna, wait, no," Cake loudly whispered, her arm stretching out to catch her but couldn't. Cake's arm stretched back in and she looked at the boys nervously, before getting on all fours and following her.

Gumball looked at Marshall and Marshall returned to the look back. Then they too left the safety of the bush and followed a few feet behind the girls. Marshall and Gumball both knew they couldn't pass off as humans. Cake could easily pretend to be a non magical cat, but the boys stuck out like a sore thumb. Not wanting to draw extra attention, Marshall kept his feet on the ground and walked like everyone else.

The distance between the men and their hiding spot was a hundred yards, but the walk over seemed so much more further. Non of them knew what these humans were capable of, or if they're kill anyone who dares approach them.

Fionna and Cake reached them first. By this time they all had gotten the attention of many of the village's humans. They stood and watched with curious eyes as Fionna held a hand back to keep Cake from following her. Then she stood another step forward.

"Hello," Fionna said to the two young men. She gave them a smile in hopes to show she means no harm in any way. "I'm Fionna. I'm a human. I've traveled for days looking for this village."

There was a short silence as the two men shared a look. The taller and darker one was the first to speak. "What is your purpose here?" He asked, his voice loud and strong and it sent shivers down Fionna's spine, but she wasn't fazed or threaten.

"I no longer wish to be alone," Fionna responded.

"And them?" The tall dark one said, shooting a stare towards Gumball and Marshall. "They are not human. What is their purpose?"

"Emotional support. They're my friends." Fionna turned and faced her two friends. She held a hand out and pointed to Marshall. "King Marshall Lee Abadeer. Vampire King from the Night-O-Sphere." She paused as she let her words sink in before turning to Gumball. "Prince Bubba Gumball, Prince of the Candy Kingdom from the land of Aaa."

Fionna turned back around and faced the tall man again. "They're not here to harm anyone or threaten your people. They came because I didn't want to come alone."

They men shared another look before speaking again. This time the smaller light-skinned one spoke. "Come. We'll bring you to the chief."

Fionna breathed a sigh of relief and she quickly looked back to her friends, giving them a smile and a thumbs up.

All four followed the men into the village. Humans gathered around the visitors and watched as the made their way through their camp. Fionna waved to them as she passed. She's never seen so many people like her before.

Finally they reached the center of the village. The men had stopped in front of a large hut; a big one with colorful pictures of stick figures all around it. Smoke was soon coming from the openings, which indicated that there must be a fire inside. The bigger one held up a hand to the group of friends and told them to wait here and then they entered the hut alone.

A half a minute later one of them stepped out again and motioned for the gang to come on in. Inside the hut more paintings and artwork covered the walls. A fire sat in the center with an older man on the other side, opposite of the hut's opening. He was rather a large man, had olive skin color and long silver hair. Feathers made his crown, and white fur made his cape. The two guards stood on either side of him, ready to protect the chief when needed.

Fionna, Marshall, Gumball and Cake took a seat on the other side of the fire and waited for him to speak. He exhale deeply and smiled at the visitors. "Welcome friends," he said, his voice stronger and more powerful than the guard. "And welcome Fionna."

Fionna looked up at the man and returned his friendly smile. "Hello, sir."

"I heard you've come a long way to find us?"

"Yes, sir."

"Such a long trip for just finding friends. What is your true purpose here?"

Fionna swallowed, nerves coming to her. She knew this was coming, the day Gumball was gonna find out the real reason she went on this trip and why she invited him.

She took a long deep breath before responding to the grown man truthfully. "I no longer wish to be alone sir." She paused and waited a few seconds before continuing. "I've come to find love, to find a husband or mate of my kind." Fionna continued to stare ahead, not wanting to turn around and look back at her friends, fearing Gumball's reaction.

Her words stung far worse than a bee. He could he feel his heart drop from his chest to his stomach and he felt like he couldn't breath. Love? LOVE? This what the trip was all about? She came to find love because he wouldn't give it to her. Gumball could already feel his world come crashing down around him and he felt so alone.

Gumball could hear the sigh from Marshall next to him. He glanced over at the vampire and saw his head narrowed. Was he apart of this? Did he know? Did they all know? Was this why Marshall was upset about finding the village? Gumball felt betrayed and heart-broken.

The chief smiled upon the young blond girl. "Still such a long way even for love. I see two young men that has come with you." He glanced over to Marshall and Gumball, who had looked up at the mention of them. "Do the men were you're from not please you? Or is another human what you seek for love?"

Fionna was silent for a moment. "I did love, but it was not returned nor given a chance." She paused and could feel Gumball's eyes on her. "All I want is someone to love me back." She narrowed her eyes and looked to the ground in front of her, holding back the tears that started to form in her eyes.

The chief studied her carefully, scratching his chin where more silver hair grew. He dropped his arms and folded them in front of his chest. "Then you're welcome here." Fionna quickly looks up at the man. "You may stay here and find the love that you seek. We have many fine young eligible bachelors here. Like these two young men." The chief points to the two guards behind him that had brought the gang to the hut. Fionna quickly looks up to the two men, who went wide-eyed and red-faced at the chief's words, and her own face flushed red.

"Uh, Thank you, sir," Fionna said, nervously.

"You're welcome dear. Now go on, mingle with my people. This is as much your home as anyone else's here now."

Fionna nodded and stood, then exited the tent, Cake, Marshall and Gumball oon followed pursuit. Marshall was immediately ambushed by pretty young ladies when he exited the hut. Cake too was approached by several young girls calling her kitty.

Fionna smiled at the site but her attention was brought to the prince when Gumball's hand grabbed her shoulder. "Fionna."

She froze but slowly turned around. She looked up at the pink prince and saw pain in his eyes.

"Why?" Gumball asked. "Why didn't you tell me this is what the trip was for?"

There was silence as she looked away. She didn't want to look him in the eyes. "Fionna, please. Tell me why?"

Fionna sighed. "Because," she began. "I was afraid you wouldn't come if you knew why."

Gumball became confused. "But why did you want me here? I knew you were talking about me in there, Fionna. Why in the world did you want me to come on this trip? Why? And why go on this trip? You don't need a human to get love in return Fionna. There's plenty of-"

"No!" Fionna slaps Gumball's hand away from her shoulder, surprising both of them. "No, Gumball."

Fionna's clutched fists hung to her sides, and anger appeared on her face. Gumball saw this and he took a step back. "You rejected me so many times. You never gave me a chance, never gave us a chance. I need someone to love me too, Gumball. Can't you for once let me be happy? Let me be loved? I can't be your hero forever you know."

The words stung and he didn't know what to say.

"And it's not just for me. I wanted you to come because I wanted you to find love too. There isn't many humanoid girls your age in Aaa and you deserve love too, even if it's not with me." She took a deep breath, trying to hold back the tears with no such luck. "When you do find love Gumball," she said in an almost a whisper. "Never let her go, or you'll regret forever."

Without another word Fionna stormed off, leaving Gumball standing alone watching as she left him. Pained filled his face and emptiness filled his chest. It really was too late. Fionna had moved on.

**To be continued...**


	17. Change of Plans

Noon turned into evening, the sun was gone and the moon was out, and a bonfire was set in the center of the village. Music played and people danced. It was a party, welcoming their visitors, but more importantly welcoming their new human friend to their village.

Gumball sat back several yards near a pile of wood, not wanting to be apart of the celebration or the fun. He was much too sad to do anything. His heart still ached from what he happened that afternoon.

Marshall, unlike Gumball, was joining in the fun. No longer needing the umbrella he was able to dance with all the girls there. He seemed to impress them all with his dancing, but even more when he joined the band and sang a few songs for them.

The vampire grew bored after a while and stepped away from the dancing humans. One can only dance and sing for so long, and after doing that for several hours, it got boring. The vampire walked away from fire and into the darker part of the village where the fire's glow didn't hit much.

The tinted pink color caught Marshall's eyes and he floated over to investigate. Marshall wasn't surprised at all when he saw the pink came from a certain candy prince, Gumball. He sat on the grass and leaned against a large log, facing opposite direction of all the fun. A gloom look on his face and he doesn't seem to notice the vampire floating beside him.

Marshall floated down and took a seat beside him, crossing his legs and leaning forward, elbows resting on his knees. Gumball sat differently, he hand his knees up against his chest and his arms folded across the top of them and his chin rested on his arms.

Marshall didn't speak as he waited for the prince to notice he was there, but the silence and minutes of no movement made him impatient and brought the silence to an end. "I'm sorry Bubba."

Seconds passed as the words slowly sank in and Gumball's head turned, facing the vampire next to him. "You knew didn't you?"

Marshall looked down, feeling a bit guilty about knowing anything. "Yeah."

Gumball looked away from Marshall and looked ahead, staring at the lake in the distance. The moon's reflection was on the surface; it was a beautiful site, but Gumball didn't seem to notice. There was a few more minutes of nothing but the sounds of the party and the animals in the forest before one of them spoke again.

"It really was too late Marshall," Gumball spoke, never looking at his friend. Marshall remained silent. "I can't believe it. I've been so stupid. Why didn't I love her when she loved me?"

Marshall looked at him, still no words escape his lips.

"Why didn't I just go on a date with her? I could have fallen in love sooner and have her now."

"It wasn't a date that made you love her," Marshall said, mainly to himself but accidentally spoke out loud.

Gumball turned his head and glanced at Marshall before looking away again. "I don't deserve anyone's love, Marshall."

Gumball dropped his knees and leaned back. He pushed his hands into the ground and lifted himself up. He stood staring ahead before turning and walking away, leaving Marshall feeling bad for his pink friend.

After Gumball left, so did Marshall. He had walked away from the log and wondered to another part of the village. The sounds of sniffling and quiet cries caught his ears and he stops. His head snapped in one direction and his brow raised at the sight of Fionna.

Fionna seemed to notice Marshall when he noticed her and she quickly whipped her eyes. She wasn't fooling the vampire for a second; he knew she was crying, but crying about what he didn't know.

Marshall approached her. "What are you doing over here, Fi? Don't you want to mingle with the boys?" Marshall teased, trying to light up the situation.

Fionna ignored his teasing but responded to his question. "I don't feel like mingling."

Marshall takes a seat beside her. "What's wrong Fi?"

She glance over to the vampire and then looked away. He could see right through her and she knew it. She couldn't lie or hold back the truth from him, he'll know.

"This was a bad idea, Marshall," she said, slumping forward, her chin being held up by the palms of her hands.

"What, the humans boys weren't what you expected?"

"I shouldn't have come here at all." She pauses a moment and than speaks again. "Who was I kidding? PG can't be replaced, Marshall. And you know what? I think I love him more now then ever."

Marshall frowns at the girl as she wiped away a tear that fell from her cheek. "And you know what else? Before we got here I could have sworn Gumball was gonna tell me he loved me, but then Cake came and..." Fionna pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face in them. "But I need to get that out of my head. He doesn't love me and he never will."

Marshall looked away and his fell to Gumball a dozen yards away and he could see him talking to someone, a girl from the village. He turned and looked back to Fionna. Fionna was no longer hiding her face but watching Gumball and the other girl.

"At least Gumball can find love from this trip," she said, her eyes never leaving him and the girl. "I'll just live alone forever." She turns around and looks at Marshall. "I should just leave Aaa. I can't be near him anymore, it hurts too much."

Marshall sighed again, feeling defeated. He wanted to tell her everything but it wasn't his business to. Marshall moved closer to his friend, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You should tell him about your plans and tell him why."

Fionna just looked at him.

"He deserves to know."

Fionna looks away and stares at the grass in front of her. "Okay." She knew Marshall was right. Tonight she'll tell Gumball she's leaving and tomorrow she'll disappear.

Fionna waited thirty minutes after Marshall left before she finally moved away from her spot. She took a walk around the perimeter of the village trying to figure out how she wanted to tell this news to Gumball, also she wanted to make sure that girl was gone before she talked to him. The last thing she wanted to do was talk about her feelings in front of a stranger.

It took ten minutes to cover the whole place but the time helped clear her head. She moved away from the fence and walked in towards where she knew Gumball's tent was set up. It didn't take long to find it since it was placed not far from the fence, but the sight of the pink tent caused her chest to beat wildly.

Gumball sat on a tree stump right outside his tent and faced in the direction of the bonfire. The glow of the fire lighting up his face with an orange color. Fionna approached him, her feet feeling heavier with every step she took.

Gumball had noticed the movement in the corner of his eyes and when he glanced over and saw Fionna coming towards him he quickly got up from the stump and stood.

He watched as Fionna made her way over and stood directly in front of him. He could see sadness on her face and she looked like she had been crying. "Fionna?"

Fionna looked up. She stared into the purple eyes of the man she loved and swallowed, trying to get the courage to speak. Why was it so easy to kill a 50 foot monster but so hard to talk to Gumball?

"Gumball," she began. She took a quick breath and continued. "I hope you find your soul mate and be happy. I'm leaving Aaa."

Gumball's eyes widen in shock and surprise. "Leaving?"

"This whole trip was a mistake. I took it in hopes to find love with a man who would love me back, because I know you never will. But today I realized it was a big waste of time because no matter what I will always love you."

Fionna sucked in a quick breath to hold back the tears.

"I can't be there when you get married and have kids and move on. I can't be your hero forever either. I'll just be miserable. So I'm leaving. Find a new hero to take my place and protect Aaa, because when morning comes I'm continuing south. You, Marshall and Cake head back to the candy kingdom."

"Fionna, no. You can't do this. I need you," Gumball said, holding a hand out to grabbed her shoulder. She just brushed it off and took a step back. "Gumball please don't make this any harder for me."

Fionna turns and walks away, whispering a goodbye, but Gumball stops her. He pulls her in by the shoulders and smashes his lips against hers. Fionna tries to wiggle her way out of his arms until she uses all her strength and shoves him away. Gumball stumbles back, almost falling to the ground. He quickly looks at Fionna surprised.

Tears now fall down her face with force. There was a short eye contact before she turned around and bolted away. Gumball stands and watches as she runs from him, paralyzed, he couldn't move and go after her. All he could do was watch as the girl he loved leaves him for good.

**To be continued...**


	18. It's Never Too Late

Never in his life has Gumball felt so much heartache and pain in one evening. If he'd known of such pain for loving and losing he would have never came on this stupid trip, but he did and he felt the pain and the heartache.

That night he felt the sting of tears in the back of his eyes but he only blinked them away and held them back. Gumball was never one to cry over something, but then again he was never in this kind of pain.

Gumball couldn't stop Fionna from leaving Aaa or change her mind and he knew that but he was damn sure she wasn't gonna leave without him telling her his feelings. He didn't care anymore about the aches and pains he knew he was facing. He didn't want to go through the rest of his life wondering what could have happened if did. Fionna deserved to know how he felt, even it made no difference in her decision. Though Gumball expected the same rejection he got last night when Fionna left him standing alone by his tent, he was still determined to tell her and he planned on telling her the next morning before she left.

The brightness of the sun rising from the East brought light into Gumball's tent. He stirred in his sleeping bag and turned over. He groaned at how early it was and he just wanted to sleep. He was used to waking up this early back at the candy kingdom but when you could barely sleep the night before it was hard to get up.

Gumball did eventually get up though and when he did he stretched out his arms and yawned. He wiped the sleep from his eyes and found his way to the tent's opening. The light blinded him for several seconds before his eyes adjusted.

People roamed about the village, obviously early risers. Gumball could see people gathering around the newly set up fire for breakfast. He saw Marshall sitting on a rock with his umbrella in his hands and Cake beside him. They were in deep conversation, sadden expressions on their faces. Then as if they knew they both turned their heads and looked over at Gumball, their expressions never changing from the frowns that shared.

After getting himself ready for the day Gumball exited his tent. He felt like something was missing and the looks Marshall and Cake's had remained in his thoughts, but he pushed them aside, not wanting anymore distractions then there already was for him.

Gumball joined the others by the morning fire and accepting the meal they offered him. For fifteen minutes he ate his meal they gave him, but still he had the feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was missing. But what? He tried again to push the feeling back but it still kept coming back with force.

Gumball had placed his plate down, no longer hungry. He looked up and around at the humans that sat around the fire too, soon he found himself looking for a certain blond but she wasn't there.

Gumball had moved from his seat and went over to Marshall and Cake. They both looked up at the prince as he joined them, no happy good mornings or smiles was giving and he frowned. He tried to ignore the looks they gave and sat next to Marshall.

"Hey you guys," Gumball said, his voice flat with no emotion. "Have you seen Fionna this morning?"

Marshall and Cake shared a look of surprise and sadness as he said this. They obviously knew something he didn't.

"What?" Gumball said to them, wanting them to say something, explain their expressions.

"You don't know?" Cake said, feeling bad for the prince.

"Know what?" Gumball asked, growing impatient.

Marshall sighed and looked to his pink friend. "Fionna is gone."

"Gone?!" Gumball was loud and caught the attention of some of the people around them. He lowered his voice again. "What do you mean gone?"

"I mean she's gone. She left, didn't she tell you she was leaving Aaa?"

Gumball ran a hand through his hair as the words sank in for him. "She did but... but she said she wasn't leaving until this morning." Gumball paused and looked at the ground by his feet. "I thought she wasn't gonna leave until after like..." He motions for the crowd of humans happily eating their meals. Marshall and Cake both knew he was referring to breakfast.

"Gumball," Cake said, softly. "Fionna left early. She said she couldn't face the goodbyes."

Cake didn't have to explain, he knew what she meant. Fionna didn't want to face Gumball again, not after last night and that kiss. Gumball turned his head, trying to forget about the pain he felt that night.

"I-I have to go get her back," Gumball said, feeling anxious.

"What?" Cake asked, confused.

Marshall looked to the cat next to him and breaking his promise to Gumball, he told her. "He loves her, Cake."

"What?!" Cake said, her eyes widen. "Since when?"

"Never mind when Cake. He loves her and he hasn't gotten to tell her how he feels."

"I was gonna tell her this morning before she felt," Gumball explained.

"Then you better get going. If you run you might be able to catch her," Marshall said, placing a hand on Gumball's shoulder.

Gumball nodded and quickly got up. He got only a few feet before he turned back to face the vampire and the cat. He didn't need to ask before Marshall pointed in one direction. "She went that way."

Gumball thanked them and ran.

Never in his life had Gumball ran so fast. He dodged fallen trees, avoided collision with standing ones, and swerved around large rocks. he wasn't gonna let anything slow him down.

It was one of those times Gumball wished he worn comfortable shoes and worked out regularly. Gumball wasn't very fast but pushed himself to his limit. Visions of Fionna keeping him going. He wasn't gonna stop, he had to keep going. This... this was his last chance. If he missed it now he was never gonna get another one. Never.

Gumball's heart raced at incredible speeds and he could feel his knees quiver and shake but he kept at it. He couldn't stop now. He ran a good distance before his body started to fail him; his lungs started to burn, his pace slowed and his head felt light and faint.

He could feel his feet slow down greatly until they finally came to a walk and then he stopped. Gumball slouched over, his hands resting on his knees while he tried so hard to catch his breath. Gumball looked ahead as he slowly stood straight up again. He looked straight at the miles of land ahead of him. He felt defeated and lost.

For a minute Gumball walked, still going in the direction Fionna had went. He knew he was never gonna catch up to her but the little hope he had left that he will still kept him going. He knew all was lost but he wasn't gonna give up, not yet.

Another minute went by and the hope within him dried up and he fell to his knees on the ground and his head slouched forward, his shoulders shaking as he used what strength he had left to keep himself together.

Silence filled the air, along with the sounds of chirping birds, the breeze of the wind whipping passed the trees, and the sound of distant sobs. Gumball's head shot up at the sounds; They didn't belong to him. Gumball stumbled to get back to his feet and he looked around.

Gumball followed the sound until they got louder and became more familiar to him. He knew those sobs and it belonged to only one person. Gumball walked and when saw the sight of movement in the corner of his eyes, he stopped; his head turned. He could see her feet and her arms that wrapped around them.

Gumball could feel his heart pick up its pace as he inched closer to the figure. He walked around the outside of the large tree until he saw her.

"Fionna," Gumball whispered.

She heard her name and her head snapped up. Her big blue eyes wet with tears looking up at the pink man before her and she looked surprised to see him.

"G-Gumball?" She said between sobs.

Gumball closed the distance and plopped down on the grass in front of her; the look of disbelief and relief in his face. "Fionna... I thought you were gone."

There was silence as she didn't respond. She was still shocked and surprised to see him there in front of him. "Why did you follow me?" It was all she could say in that moment.

"I came after you," Gumball said with a sigh.

"Why would you do that?"

"I didn't want to lose you. I wanted to stop you from leaving."

Tears filled her eyes once more and poured down her cheeks. "But why?" she repeated.

Gumball's eyes narrowed and he exhaled before looking back up and into her sky blue eyes. "Because... if you leave Aaa I'll be miserable."

Fionna's brows raised in disbelief. "Huh?"

Gumball stared at her a moment. This was it, his last chance and he wasn't going to miss it like all the others. "I wouldn't be able to sleep at night thinking how stupid I have been for listening to my head all these years, instead of my heart, making up all these excuses to deny you and then driving the woman I love out of Aaa and out of my life."

There was a moment of silence as Fionna heard Gumball's words. "W-what?"

Gumball scooted closer and took Fionna's hand in his and covering it with his other hand. "I'm in love with you Fionna and I'm sorry it took this long for me to realize it. I don't want you to leave Aaa. I want you to stay with me. Please tell me I'm not too late and I still have a chance to be with you."

Gumball looked at her with pleading eyes. Fionna didn't respond as she looked at their linked hands. She couldn't believe her own ears. Did she really just hear Gumball tell her that he loved her and that he wanted to be with her? It seemed all surreal and she kept telling herself that this all must be a dream she was having, but it wasn't.

The long silence grew longer as she slowly pulled her hand away from his. He let his head drop and his shoulders slumped. It was the answer he was scared of, the answer he prepared himself for, but he had no idea it would hurt this much.

He then felt the touch of a fragile hand on his cheek and he looked up. Fionna staring back at him, a smile on her face and new tears falling down her cheeks. "You're not too late Gumball," she said, getting his attention. She brought her other hand up and placed it over her chest. "This heart still beats for you and as long as it does it's never too late. I love you, Gumball."

A smile slowly forms on Gumball's face and he places his own hand over the smaller one on his cheek. "I love you too, Fionna."

They both dropped their hands and wrapped them around each other in an embrace. Pulling his head from the crook of her neck he looked into Fionna's eyes and they shared a moment before finally leaning in and connecting their lips. All their emotions and love spilled into that kiss as they held one another tightly, never wanting to let the other go.

**The End**

*********************  
**Author: I wanna thank everyone that Followed and Favorited this story. It means a lot just to have someone read it. I know this story happened pretty fast posting all 18 chapters in a week. I already had most of the chapters finished already and they were shared on another site. I decided to put the story here so more people can read it, then I wrote the last four chapters in four days cause I wanted to finish it as soon as possible for the people that waited so long for my chapters on the other site. xP**  
**I hope the ending was good enough for you and not too predictable. I know the ending it kinda 'eh' with Gumball confessing his feelings finally and they share a kiss and blah blah blah; you're probably wondering what happened afterwards, but I feel this was a fair ending. I might make an epilogue chapter though, not 100% sure about it yet. I probably will.**  
**Well anyways thank you all again. I do plan on making another Adventure Time story, maybe not a gummybunny one but it will be a romance one cause that's what I'm all about, ROMANCE! xD**


	19. Epilogue

**-Two Weeks Later-**

***Back in Aaa***

"Gumball!" the blond yelled, running up the small hill towards the casually dressed prince. He smiled at the girl approaching him.

"Fionna, over here!" Gumball called back, waving his hand to get her attention.

Fionna ran into the prince's arms and he lifted her up, spinning her in a small circle before dropping her back onto the ground. They shared a quick kiss before intertwining their fingers and walking down the hill in the opposite direction.

"How's my favorite girl?" He asked.

Fionna just smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I'm good. Sorry I'm late."

"It's quite alright."

"Cake wouldn't let me leave the treehouse with my sword because it was unromantic for a first date."

Gumball laughed. "That's Cake for you."

"Haha, yeah. But I did manage to sneak a small blade in my sock before slipping out."

"That's my Fionna."

"Hey you never know," she smiled.

"I know. That's what I love about you."

They walked into a clearing surrounded by cotton candy trees and in the center was a table and two chairs. Table wore a cloth and on it was a meal all ready and waiting. They approached the table and Gumball pulled out a chair for Fionna. Fionna thanked him and took a seat and then he walked around to take his seat on the other side.

"You know what I love about you?" Fionna asked.

"What?" Gumball responded, leaning forward a bit, curious to what her answer was.

"You're the sweetest guy I know," she smiled. "But not because you're candy."

Gumball flashed her a smile and then lifted up his drink. "To you, the bravest girl in Aaa and the one and only girl in my heart."

Fionna blushed at the comment and then lifted her cup up to meet with his. "And to you, the smartest man in Aaa, and the one and only man in my heart."

They collided their cups and took a sip. Then as if remembering something, Gumball put his cup back down on the table with a hurry before looking by his feet. "Oh I have something for you."

"Really?" Fionna said, looking over the table to see what it was he had. "What is it?"

Gumball pulled a small bag from behind him and set it on the table. Fionna quickly grabbed the bag with excitement and put her hand inside. She held something soft and fuzzy in her hand and pulled it out, knocking the bag out of the way.

A smile slowly formed in Fionna's face as she looked at the gift in awe. Her eyes then looked up at the prince in front of her. "My hat," she said in an almost whisper.

"I saved it from the ground the night you ditched it at the candy kingdom."

Tears formed in the corner of her eyes. "And you kept it all this time?"

"Y-yeah." Gumball's face got warm and he looked away feeling a little embarrassed about it now.

Fionna quickly put the hat on her head and tucked her hair inside, besides some hair on the side. She missed wearing that hat and here she thought it was lost forever, but no Gumball had it the entire time. He knew how much she loved it and knew she would be looking for it again and saved it.

Fionna got up from her seat across from Gumball and walked over to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck from the side and placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you Gumball."

Gumball turned his head and smiled at the girl next to him. "You're welcome, Fionna."

After taking her seat back at her side of the table the two continued their date. They shared a meal of spaghetti and meatballs and for dessert, apple pie. It lasted for a while until the sun started to set; the two lay in the grass, watching the sky change its colors and the stars appear. It was a beautiful day and Fionna couldn't have asked for a better person to spend it with other than her prince.

***********  
**I know this was short but it was an Epilogue chapter, I wasn't planning on making it a big one. I just wanted to show you guys a little bit of what happened after the kiss. It's two weeks after chapter 18 and they're all back in Aaa and this is Fionna and Gumball's first date. After all this time Fionna finally got her date with Gumball. ^^ I kinda want to bring her hat back too, and show you guys where it has been this entire time. It wasn't a last minute thing, I did have it happened the entire time for him to give it to her, but I couldn't make room for it in the last chapter, so now it's in this chapter. I think it kinda fits in there perfectly. ^^**  
**Wanna know what happens after this chapter? Check out my new story 'The Groom in Pink', a sequel to this story.**  
**Thank you all and oh, just want to let you guys know that I DO read your reviews. ^^  
Bye bye! 3**


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